I'm enjoying my fuck all in the pub right now. Hope it works out for you.
Tell you what, the fucking _substance_ of all this stuff gets lost in discussion of the manoeuvres far too often. It's the same with Rwanda too, all that five families stuff allowing us to elide the fact that there are real people involved. Or even on their level, that there's a bill here with actual measures in it that should be discussed and demolished. So cheers for helping out with that.
Yep, especially a problem with Westminster coverage. Lots and lots about people's reactions to an idea. Very little about its implications and basically nothing at all about the impact of legislation once it's passed
so true - i'm sure i've seen 3 or 4 articles that claim to list the questions that need asking about the Rwanda policy. none included the one that matters 'is it right?'
I wonder if there might be a better description of the Schengen agreement the "free movement of people without border checks" because otherwise it could easily be be mixed up with one of the EU's single market's four freedoms (Freedom of Movement of People).
They are orthogonal concepts, not all countries are party to both and they have very different implications for the individuals who they apply to.
Of course their strength is amplified when both are applicable but each by itself is already quite valuable.
We were at TRIP live at Albert Hall last night. One of the audience polls showed people were overwhelmingly less optimistic about Ukraine than a year ago so this is indeed very welcome. I think AC & RS were spot on identifying Putin’s aim to erode support for Ukraine via useful idiots like Orban/most U.S. Republicans & hang on for a Trump win as THE most dangerous geopolitical situation of 2024.
Sorry not sorry to pollute your space with rivals’ names & BTW, the subscription problem I had last week now resolved so it’s good to know I’m getting fuck all as well as paying to be called a cunt for my money.
Hi Ian, merry fucking Christmas to you too. I was going to pay you some money but the button says it is not possible through the App. Your post requesting money doesn’t allow replies... just saying. Seasons greetings anyway to you and yours.
Hi Andrew. I had the same issues. Turns out you need to sign in to your Substack account on a browser and do it through that. I just did. Hoping Ian drinks my £50 over Xmas and doesn’t regret it.
I understand this level of detail was beyond the scope of the article however it might interest some that the temporary control measures on internal Schengen borders are not comparable with the situation before the agreement.
Control points are usually limited to main roads and are often spot checks rather than systematic ones.
Other means of transport are still check free (e.g. flights) or conducted without stops (e.g. trains).
The former has received some publicity recently due to the emergence of a compromise on the Schengen membership of Bulgaria and Romania.
It suggests that flights could already be considered to be internal (check free) while land based transport would be reassessed.
The difference between pre-Schengen check points and "on the fly" checks on trains is extremely visible at the train stations close to the border.
My personal reference is the main station in Salzburg (Austria) which used to be a sort of double terminus in pre-Schengen time. Trains from within Austria and trains from Germany would end there, requiring passengers to go through passport checks in order to reach the platforms serving the trains for the other country.
Nowadays all long distance trains just pass through and there are even commuter trains every 30 minutes which connect Bavarian towns and villages to their closest city (Salzburg).
When police conducts checks they do that by boarding the train at any of its usual stops and disembark at another one when they're done.
Overall still a much smoother travel experience compared to normal national borders or the Schengen area's external ones.
Newly signed up and looking forward to my "Dunt gave me fuck all" merch! I'm still active in Brussels and it's always slightly shocking that the angry debates there are all about "Will this work" or "That would work better" rather than the ephemeral headline-grabbing of beyond-their-sell-by nonentities. Such is life in Brexit Britain.
I'm enjoying my fuck all in the pub right now. Hope it works out for you.
Tell you what, the fucking _substance_ of all this stuff gets lost in discussion of the manoeuvres far too often. It's the same with Rwanda too, all that five families stuff allowing us to elide the fact that there are real people involved. Or even on their level, that there's a bill here with actual measures in it that should be discussed and demolished. So cheers for helping out with that.
Yep, especially a problem with Westminster coverage. Lots and lots about people's reactions to an idea. Very little about its implications and basically nothing at all about the impact of legislation once it's passed
so true - i'm sure i've seen 3 or 4 articles that claim to list the questions that need asking about the Rwanda policy. none included the one that matters 'is it right?'
I wonder if there might be a better description of the Schengen agreement the "free movement of people without border checks" because otherwise it could easily be be mixed up with one of the EU's single market's four freedoms (Freedom of Movement of People).
They are orthogonal concepts, not all countries are party to both and they have very different implications for the individuals who they apply to.
Of course their strength is amplified when both are applicable but each by itself is already quite valuable.
Yes you're quite right, it's awkwardly phrased at best and muddles things up.
We were at TRIP live at Albert Hall last night. One of the audience polls showed people were overwhelmingly less optimistic about Ukraine than a year ago so this is indeed very welcome. I think AC & RS were spot on identifying Putin’s aim to erode support for Ukraine via useful idiots like Orban/most U.S. Republicans & hang on for a Trump win as THE most dangerous geopolitical situation of 2024.
Sorry not sorry to pollute your space with rivals’ names & BTW, the subscription problem I had last week now resolved so it’s good to know I’m getting fuck all as well as paying to be called a cunt for my money.
Excellent, it was really important to me that you got the fuck all in mint condition. Thanks Andy.
Reading this has made me smile on a mad and quite sad week - it was good fuck all well spent!
I had a comment (https://iandunt.substack.com/p/the-global-war-against-populism/comment/44222779) on the article from last month that you linked, but I guess it seems more relevant to this one.
Hi Ian, merry fucking Christmas to you too. I was going to pay you some money but the button says it is not possible through the App. Your post requesting money doesn’t allow replies... just saying. Seasons greetings anyway to you and yours.
Hi Andrew. I had the same issues. Turns out you need to sign in to your Substack account on a browser and do it through that. I just did. Hoping Ian drinks my £50 over Xmas and doesn’t regret it.
I understand this level of detail was beyond the scope of the article however it might interest some that the temporary control measures on internal Schengen borders are not comparable with the situation before the agreement.
Control points are usually limited to main roads and are often spot checks rather than systematic ones.
Other means of transport are still check free (e.g. flights) or conducted without stops (e.g. trains).
The former has received some publicity recently due to the emergence of a compromise on the Schengen membership of Bulgaria and Romania.
It suggests that flights could already be considered to be internal (check free) while land based transport would be reassessed.
The difference between pre-Schengen check points and "on the fly" checks on trains is extremely visible at the train stations close to the border.
My personal reference is the main station in Salzburg (Austria) which used to be a sort of double terminus in pre-Schengen time. Trains from within Austria and trains from Germany would end there, requiring passengers to go through passport checks in order to reach the platforms serving the trains for the other country.
Nowadays all long distance trains just pass through and there are even commuter trains every 30 minutes which connect Bavarian towns and villages to their closest city (Salzburg).
When police conducts checks they do that by boarding the train at any of its usual stops and disembark at another one when they're done.
Overall still a much smoother travel experience compared to normal national borders or the Schengen area's external ones.
I bought myself fuck all for Christmas because it's been a shit year and I deserve it.
Newly signed up and looking forward to my "Dunt gave me fuck all" merch! I'm still active in Brussels and it's always slightly shocking that the angry debates there are all about "Will this work" or "That would work better" rather than the ephemeral headline-grabbing of beyond-their-sell-by nonentities. Such is life in Brexit Britain.