Britain’s Covid vaccine supply is in jeopardy after the EU threatened to block exports of the Belgian-made Pfizer jabs amid a row with UK-based AstraZeneca.
Brussels decided to impose tighter controls on exports after reacting with fury to the news that AstraZeneca will deliver 50 million fewer doses to the EU than it had expected.
Nicely fascist little moment there. And I do actually mean fascist, nothing outside the state etc.
One private sector company is having a little problem delivering against a contract. Therefore some other private sector company will be prevented from filling its own, entirely unrelated contract.
For spiteful reasons of State. Come and see the petulance inherent in the system…..
“Nice trade deal you have there. Be a shame if something happened to it…” etc etc
For some reason the usually excitable Remainders on the sailing forum I frequent who turn even the slightest anti-Brexit story in to 100s of comments on how the EU is fantastic and we’re all thick, racist bigots, at best, have remained silent. I can’t even get a response to a bit of not very good natured goading.
Didn’t we debate this a little while ago? The merits of self sufficiency vs. relying on the good nature of vindictive cunts?
Nothing to do with the French/Merck vaccine going tits up, of course.
So how’s that ‘We can always get what we want from foreign countries’ concept coming along then?
When the chips are down, governments will expropriate or direct assets within their governance. And If you are relying on a commercial agreement with those assets State power always trumps it.
Cue Guardian readers cheering this on.
News reports are that this is due to failures in a *Belgian* company supplying “raw” materials to a supplier to AZ. EU chief complains about “insufficiency” of explanation/detail during a meeting with someone from AZ.
“One of your people screwed up” is not an acceptable answer when Frau Fuhrer asks “why?”.
NB the ban on exports of Pfizer vaccine starts nearly three weeks before the first dose of AZ vaccine was due to be delivered to the EU.
Surely this is a problem because the EU screwed up their vaccination program. So, if we were still in the EU we would be subject to their screwed up vaccination program. So how is not being in the EU any more making it worse?
Everyone throws all legal niceties out of the window when there is the biggest global mass hysterical panic in recorded history on.
For example, none of these measures are constitutional in Germany. You don’t (shouldn’t) need a judge to tell you that, but when a judge does pop up and tell you that, mainstream formerly respected and highbrow organs publish his full name, photo, and the street he lives in, something they never do for murderers.
The EU can inject the crap into their dicks . Not proven effective let alone safe and the millions of mugs taking it in the false hope of getting their lives back are going to be disappointed as well.
BTW Jan 30 is “Opening Day” as UK businesses who realise Blojob is ruining them anyway will be opening their doors. I’m going out to patronise any I find and front Plod if needs be.
It is obviously the ONLY way left to get our lives back
So how’s that ‘We can always get what we want from foreign countries’ concept coming along then?
Heh. Yes, a chant of “it’s all gone quiet over there” seems entirely fair.
The bought & paid for EU shills (Adonis, Grayling, Maugham) seem to have gone missing…… perhaps they’re waiting for instructions to come via Bliar ??
Sends a great message to manufacturers doesn’t it? “We’ll take control of your product when we please.”
Be a shame if pharmaceutical companies started moving to a country bordering the EU that doesn’t have these tendencies, wouldn’t it?
Jim,
“So how’s that ‘We can always get what we want from foreign countries’ concept coming along then?
When the chips are down, governments will expropriate or direct assets within their governance. And If you are relying on a commercial agreement with those assets State power always trumps it.”
Well, it’s just fine and fucking dandy in the short term, but I’ll now be looking at the source of what I buy, and non-EU or British is going to get an edge. You want to turn all your brands, all your AOCs, into a pile of steaming shit that people won’t touch, go right ahead. I’m going to take a harder look at a Kia instead of a VW now.
BoM4
And you’ll find that Kia (and Hyundai) are both better and cheaper than VW.
The real amusement is that the EU hasn’t even approved the Astra-Zeneca vaccine yet.
So they are complaining about not being given a vaccine they haven’t approved, said approval having been delayed in a separate demonstration of spite.
Don’t the Belgians have a history of this? I seem to recall their government refusing to sell much needed ammunition to the British during the Falklands war. Perhaps they were running short of child sex slaves and were upset we wouldn’t send them any?
There was a story promoted by the BBC et al and on Twitter about the WHO saying more doses of the vaccine should be given to the Third World, etc.
That story is now wearing a pair of concrete shoes at the bottom of the East River. It’s a funny old world.
Don’t the Belgians have a history of this? I seem to recall their government refusing to sell much needed ammunition to the British during the Falklands war.
It was the first Gulf war. We didn’t learn. Neither did the yanks. NATO headquarters is still in which worthless arsehole excuse for a country?
PJF – Penseivat is correct. In fact none of our friends in the EC supported the UK and it was unlikely countries like Sri Lanka that provided political endorsement. The US bent over backwards not to be seen to take sides with Secretary of State Alexander Haig shuttling to and fro.
The Guardian comments are all “See told you so. This wouldn’t be a problem if we had remained.” Seemingly completely unaware that had we remained we would have had fuck all anyway.
Hell, we even saw what the French did during the initial covid PPE crisis when they impounded UK bound lorries loaded with the stuff.
Come on Tim, you’re awfully quiet, how’s the ‘Free Trade is always good for us’ theory looking right now? Care to comment?
“Not-free trade” means more of these idiots imposing more such restriction on us, doesn’t it?
Remainers: “Well, then, just make sure you stay on the fascist side. I don’t get what the problem is.”
Penseivat is correct.
I’m happy to be corrected, but I was intrigued by what he said and went to look.
– “Security of Supply and Value for Money are the key criteria that underpin the procurement of safe and reliable ammunition. On the matter of the alleged refusal of Belgium to supply ammunition for the Falklands conflict, this incident, in fact, occurred during the Gulf War.”
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200102/cmhansrd/vo020410/halltext/20410h02.htm
– “The myth of Belgium refusing to supply ammunition arises from the Gulf War in 1991.”
https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/comment/63223140#Comment_63223140
The closest I can see is a reference in the Guardian to Mrs Thatcher’s dislike of Wilfried Martens:
– “. . . he incurred her wrath, lasting resentment and a slighting reference to “a certain Mr Martens” in her autobiography after a junior functionary from one of the coalition minority parties, briefly in charge at a ministry one weekend, refused to sell ammunition to Britain during the Falklands war.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/10/wilfried-martens
The implication there being it was an unofficial temporary interruption and not national policy.
“Not-free trade” means more of these idiots imposing more such restriction on us, doesn’t it?
Yup. Which is worth considering when advocating “unilateral free trade” at the expense of national suppliers, isn’t it?
Sure, doesn’t matter if it’s wine and flat screen tellies. But essential medical, military and food infrastructure? Probably best not to rely on our foes for that kind of stuff.
But who are our foes? We used to be allied with the North Germans against the French, the French against the Prussians, the Russians against the Austrians, the Chinese against the Japanese, the Persians against the Ottomans.
Surely MI6 must have enough dirt on the EU ruling cliques to let us persuade them to behave better? Don’t the Krauts and Frogs have elections coming up?
But who are our foes?
Yes.
““Not-free trade” means more of these idiots imposing more such restriction on us, doesn’t it?”
No it means not letting an obsession with the purity of ‘Free Trade’ get ourselves into situation whereby we have allowed important industries and capabilities to disappear overseas all in the name of chasing the cheapest widget possible. Yes we might get widgets cheaper for a while, but when the SHTF you suddenly find we get no widgets at all. Which if the widget in question is something that without which people start dying is a bit of a problem.
Hence my dig that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Continuity and security of supply has a value but its never taken into account just ‘Hey look we can get cheaper shit if we let Johnny Foreigner make it in his country!’
Penseivat is correct. In fact none of our friends in the EC supported the UK and it was unlikely countries like Sri Lanka that provided political endorsement.
If you’re referring to the Falkland’s War the French provided a lot of help. There’s a lot of myth busting from the author of First Casualty, the true story of the Argentinian invasion and how NP8901 took on the Argies and didn’t surrender, they were ordered to stop fighting. He talks for some time about the French help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kVt-0USCmM
Start 21:15 if you don’t want to listen to it all.
– They supported us in the UN
– They sent Mirages for our Harriers but we used wrong Harriers and lost.
– They provided info on Exocets
– Dassault did have a technical team in Argentina.
– A shipment of Exocet’s was stopped by Mitterrand after Maggie threatened them. Spain gave us a tip off about some more.
– Certain elements in France had a vested interest in seeing how well the Exocet performed and they did sell it afterwards as “tested in combat” but he reckons French got, at the top, not involved.
BiND
No, that’s fair enough. I should have been clearer and written that none of the EC member states wanted to be seen overtly to support the UK. A friend of long standing serving in the French military told me at the time that useful assistance was given sub rosa.
TMB,
No problem. I don’t normally like to defend the French but credit where it’s due 🙂
“Hence my dig that economists know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Continuity and security of supply has a value but its never taken into account just ‘Hey look we can get cheaper shit if we let Johnny Foreigner make it in his country!’”
That’s bollocks. The real problem is that even though we have armies of people in Public Health England, including people who are running pandemic exercises, they failed, spectacularly.
This is the sort of thing manufacturing companies work through all the time. What if supplier of X goes to the wall, how do we keep going?
The only solution for PHE is lions.
@ BoM4
What have the lions done to annoy you?
I like my shit to be cheap.
It’s the quality stuff that I’m willing to pay higher prices for. But I would still like the suppliers to be competing for my custom.
Q: Is this a good state of affairs? A: No.
Q: Does this show that we would have been better off if we hadn’t left the EU? A: No. Of course not. We already have x million people vaccinated because we weren’t tied into the EU nonsense.
Q: Does this show that free trade is a bad thing? A: WTF? No.
Q: Is this actually nothing to do with Pfizer, but everything to do with the failed French vaccine? A: Yes
Q: Does this show how utterly evil the EU is and always was? A: Hell yes.
Q: Given what’s happening now, would I have voted differently? A: No. This is why I voted leave: the EU is a toxic organisation. It’s just that we can now see that clearly.
As someone who has actually supplied large companies with foreign products – inputs into their processes – continuity of supply is something they take very seriously indeed. Rare earths especially…..