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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/30/fox-in-the-chicken-house-boon-to-snp
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Fox in the chicken house is a boon to the SNP | Fox in the chicken house is a boon to the SNP |
| (17 days later) | |
| The government in Edinburgh is content to let the dismal Leave negotiations run their tragic course, a shot in the arm for dormant nationalism | The government in Edinburgh is content to let the dismal Leave negotiations run their tragic course, a shot in the arm for dormant nationalism |
| Sun 30 Jul 2017 00.04 BST | Sun 30 Jul 2017 00.04 BST |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 15.35 GMT | |
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| The patchy radio reception on a rural back road in west central Scotland was playing havoc with Stephen Jardine’s mid-morning phone-in show on Radio Scotland. Jardine seemed to be refereeing a heated live discussion on the desirability of coronation chicken, that staple of UK suburban garden buffets, as a food product. | The patchy radio reception on a rural back road in west central Scotland was playing havoc with Stephen Jardine’s mid-morning phone-in show on Radio Scotland. Jardine seemed to be refereeing a heated live discussion on the desirability of coronation chicken, that staple of UK suburban garden buffets, as a food product. |
| But it wasn’t coronation chicken they were discussing – it was chlorine-treated chicken. If the callers to Jardine’s show are any indication, then the prospect of this chemically petrified beastie invading the nation’s supermarkets was giving middle Scotland a fit of the vapours. | But it wasn’t coronation chicken they were discussing – it was chlorine-treated chicken. If the callers to Jardine’s show are any indication, then the prospect of this chemically petrified beastie invading the nation’s supermarkets was giving middle Scotland a fit of the vapours. |
| The spectre was raised by the eagerness of Dr Liam Fox, Britain’s trade secretary, to conclude a trade deal with the United States. Any such deal could be contingent on Britain agreeing to ride a coach and horses through its food safety standards by agreeing to accept US poultry meat that had been rinsed with a detergent solution so suffused with chemicals that we would soon all be walking about in our own wee personal halos. | The spectre was raised by the eagerness of Dr Liam Fox, Britain’s trade secretary, to conclude a trade deal with the United States. Any such deal could be contingent on Britain agreeing to ride a coach and horses through its food safety standards by agreeing to accept US poultry meat that had been rinsed with a detergent solution so suffused with chemicals that we would soon all be walking about in our own wee personal halos. |
| It gets worse. US poultry is sprayed with chlorine to cancel out dodgy hygiene practices by its farmers early on in the food processing chain. This is why US-sourced chickens have been banned in EU countries for the past 20 years. Fox accused the British media of being “obsessed” with chlorine-washed chicken. We know this isn’t true, though, as the difficulties of trying to fit “CHLORINE-WASHED CHICKEN” into one line of a huge headline in a tabloid splash are insurmountable. | It gets worse. US poultry is sprayed with chlorine to cancel out dodgy hygiene practices by its farmers early on in the food processing chain. This is why US-sourced chickens have been banned in EU countries for the past 20 years. Fox accused the British media of being “obsessed” with chlorine-washed chicken. We know this isn’t true, though, as the difficulties of trying to fit “CHLORINE-WASHED CHICKEN” into one line of a huge headline in a tabloid splash are insurmountable. |
| According to the trade secretary, the chlorine solution is a mere detail “at the very end stage of one sector of a potential free trade agreement. I say no more than that.” Don’t be shy, Fox, tell us more about what US farmers do to their chickens that necessitates them having to wash them with the stuff we put in swimming pools. | According to the trade secretary, the chlorine solution is a mere detail “at the very end stage of one sector of a potential free trade agreement. I say no more than that.” Don’t be shy, Fox, tell us more about what US farmers do to their chickens that necessitates them having to wash them with the stuff we put in swimming pools. |
| Britain’s Brexit strategy at the beginning of negotiations with the 27 other member states of the EU has led to predictions that they are about to descend into farce. But when your starting proposition is already a farcical one, what do you call the rungs below that? Farce is only the first stop in a line that calls in at Chaos, Horribly Wrong and Humiliation before stopping at Oblivion. | Britain’s Brexit strategy at the beginning of negotiations with the 27 other member states of the EU has led to predictions that they are about to descend into farce. But when your starting proposition is already a farcical one, what do you call the rungs below that? Farce is only the first stop in a line that calls in at Chaos, Horribly Wrong and Humiliation before stopping at Oblivion. |
| Britain’s Brexit car crash will not have gone unnoticed by non-EU nations with whom we are seeking trade deals | Britain’s Brexit car crash will not have gone unnoticed by non-EU nations with whom we are seeking trade deals |
| Britain’s Brexit car crash will not have gone unnoticed by those non-EU nations with whom we are seeking compensatory trade deals. Perhaps chlorine-washed chicken will be the least of it. Perhaps supermarkets are working on new warnings to be displayed on packets of food: “This product meets with our highest food safety approval. If however you find traces of human bone…” Or: “Don’t be alarmed if you detect movement in your food product…” It’ll be a great way to make us all vegetarians and ease pressure on the NHS. | Britain’s Brexit car crash will not have gone unnoticed by those non-EU nations with whom we are seeking compensatory trade deals. Perhaps chlorine-washed chicken will be the least of it. Perhaps supermarkets are working on new warnings to be displayed on packets of food: “This product meets with our highest food safety approval. If however you find traces of human bone…” Or: “Don’t be alarmed if you detect movement in your food product…” It’ll be a great way to make us all vegetarians and ease pressure on the NHS. |
| What better way of demonstrating your haughty disdain for those shifty Europeans than by choosing Fox, Boris Johnson and David Davis to form the top order of your Brexit batting line-up? Fox is the man who must somehow secure advantageous trade deals with the rest of the world to compensate for exiting the most powerful and lucrative alliance in the history of international trade. Perhaps Theresa May thought his familiarity with overseas hospitality would be an advantage. Fox was forced to resign as defence secretary in 2011 because of his eagerness to share foreign largesse with his close friend, lobbyist Adam Werritty, which extended to private Ministry of Defence meetings and meetings with defence contractors, though he had no security clearance. | What better way of demonstrating your haughty disdain for those shifty Europeans than by choosing Fox, Boris Johnson and David Davis to form the top order of your Brexit batting line-up? Fox is the man who must somehow secure advantageous trade deals with the rest of the world to compensate for exiting the most powerful and lucrative alliance in the history of international trade. Perhaps Theresa May thought his familiarity with overseas hospitality would be an advantage. Fox was forced to resign as defence secretary in 2011 because of his eagerness to share foreign largesse with his close friend, lobbyist Adam Werritty, which extended to private Ministry of Defence meetings and meetings with defence contractors, though he had no security clearance. |
| Johnson is the man whose response to the financial meltdown of 2008 has been to keep paying the bankers who caused it massive bonuses. US state department officials collapsed into giggles when Johnson was appointed Britain’s foreign secretary. According to one senior UK political reporter, a friend who worked at the Foreign Office called him to say: “Boris fucking Johnson in Beirut dealing with Syria? I can’t even deal with this lunacy.” | Johnson is the man whose response to the financial meltdown of 2008 has been to keep paying the bankers who caused it massive bonuses. US state department officials collapsed into giggles when Johnson was appointed Britain’s foreign secretary. According to one senior UK political reporter, a friend who worked at the Foreign Office called him to say: “Boris fucking Johnson in Beirut dealing with Syria? I can’t even deal with this lunacy.” |
| Barely a year after Brexit, the former head of the Vote Leave campaign has branded the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, “thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus”. This has also begun to dawn on senior EU officials who are now talking openly of their disbelief at how badly prepared and incompetent the UK team has been at the start of Brexit negotiations. | Barely a year after Brexit, the former head of the Vote Leave campaign has branded the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, “thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus”. This has also begun to dawn on senior EU officials who are now talking openly of their disbelief at how badly prepared and incompetent the UK team has been at the start of Brexit negotiations. |
| Such views seem to have been borne out by the startling sight of Davis leaving the crucial opening session of his second round of talks with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, after just three hours. This was after he had declared they were now “getting into the substance of the matter”. Frankly, I thought it was outrageous that Barnier hadn’t been briefed on the fact that English Tories will let nothing come before their afternoon Pimm’s. | Such views seem to have been borne out by the startling sight of Davis leaving the crucial opening session of his second round of talks with his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, after just three hours. This was after he had declared they were now “getting into the substance of the matter”. Frankly, I thought it was outrageous that Barnier hadn’t been briefed on the fact that English Tories will let nothing come before their afternoon Pimm’s. |
| We are now beginning to see why Scots voted 2:1 to remain in the EU | We are now beginning to see why Scots voted 2:1 to remain in the EU |
| We are also now beginning to see why Scots voted 2:1 to remain in the EU. The thinktank Centre for Cities has predicted that Scotland’s major cities will suffer the worst consequences of Brexit, hard or soft, owing to their higher than average exposure to international markets. Aberdeen is expected to be hardest hit, losing up to half a billion over the next 10 years. We already know that a rapid loss of EU subsidies is among the threats posed to the vast majority of Scottish farmers’ security by undermining their land prices. | We are also now beginning to see why Scots voted 2:1 to remain in the EU. The thinktank Centre for Cities has predicted that Scotland’s major cities will suffer the worst consequences of Brexit, hard or soft, owing to their higher than average exposure to international markets. Aberdeen is expected to be hardest hit, losing up to half a billion over the next 10 years. We already know that a rapid loss of EU subsidies is among the threats posed to the vast majority of Scottish farmers’ security by undermining their land prices. |
| Last week, 70 leaders from across Scottish politics, academia, law and business signed a letter calling for Britain to think again. “It is time to call a halt to Brexit,” they said. “The disastrous consequences are now becoming ever clearer – every day. Even before the UK has left the EU, we face falling living standards, rising inflation, slowing and lower productivity. Our international reputation has been seriously damaged,” they added. | Last week, 70 leaders from across Scottish politics, academia, law and business signed a letter calling for Britain to think again. “It is time to call a halt to Brexit,” they said. “The disastrous consequences are now becoming ever clearer – every day. Even before the UK has left the EU, we face falling living standards, rising inflation, slowing and lower productivity. Our international reputation has been seriously damaged,” they added. |
| Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP government have been quiet since the general election. Faced with Britain’s shambolic Brexit, they may be happy to let events reach their dismal conclusion. Then persuading their compatriots to vote for an independent Scotland returning to the EU will be far easier. | Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP government have been quiet since the general election. Faced with Britain’s shambolic Brexit, they may be happy to let events reach their dismal conclusion. Then persuading their compatriots to vote for an independent Scotland returning to the EU will be far easier. |
| Brexit | Brexit |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Liam Fox | Liam Fox |
| Scottish National party (SNP) | Scottish National party (SNP) |
| Scotland | Scotland |
| Boris Johnson | Boris Johnson |
| David Davis | David Davis |
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