Agreed, but what really annoys me are the muppets who think that because it is daylight that they can/should keep the lights on high beam!There are times when it’s prudent (drivemanship?) to have lights on in blazing daylight but not all the damn time.
Ian quite. I also noticed that when I drive into a bright winter Sun my instrument panel brightens up. Now that is useful. What I think we really need is for head lights to come on when we have a bright Sun in our 6. Too many drivers, the road ahead lit brilliantly, little realise they are invisible in the evening Sun.ian16th wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2020 10:04 amI have to admit that when I bought my present car, with automatic lights, I thought that they were a big 'so what'?
I'd managed many years without them.
But now I've become so used to them that I get worried when the car is serviced and someone has moved the switch.
When I see the warning light on the dash is 'on', I think that it is a dark & dingy day!
How 'Les Anglais' living the French dream life will be left vote-free and voiceless after Brexit
In rural France's idyllic villages, the cows are French but the human population is propped up by les anglais, now facing political lockout
As rain beats down on their ancient farmhouse, Andrew Nixey and his wife Margaret tuck into soup and Stilton, Wensleydale and Cheddar cheese with chutney and some locally-made pork pies. The scene could be taking place in Mr Nixeys' native Tetsworth in Oxfordshire. In fact, while even the pies were made by a British butcher, this is deepest rural France. Saint-Martial-sur-Isop is a small village halfway between Limoges and Poitiers in the Haute-Vienne département.
The local Limousin cows are firmly French but among its permanent human population of 138, around 50 are British.
The Nixeys were among the first anglais to arrive 20 years ago with their two children. Now most of their farmer neighbours are from the UK and a British-run bar, tea room and bed and breakfast has just opened up. In neighbouring Saint-Barbant, a third of the 300 villagers are from the UK.
The couple won't be able to vote after Brexit, nor will Andrew be able to stand as a municipal councelllor in Saint-Martial-Sur-Isop .
“I had never thought of moving to France but the land was cheap and a young farmers’ scheme providing financial aid and low-interest loans. It was still Europe and not far from England,” he recalled.
As they set about raising prime Limousin beef, the pair got stuck into local life, with Margaret helping at the local church and teaching English at school while Andrew joined local hunters on boar shoots. “My liver very nearly never recovered but it helped integrate,” he said.
The plan clearly worked as within two years, he was asked to run for municipal councillor and has been on the town council ever since, helping the local mayor - who speaks no English - deal with fresh waves of Britons lured by low-cost flights to Limoges and Poitiers.
Now, however, the idyll of Entente-Cordiale looks set to end. As EU nationals, Britons had were allowed to vote in European and municipal elections in France, and stand for municipal councillor. But with Britain due to officially leave the European Union on January 31, France has stripped the right of the country’s estimated 160,000 British residents to vote in any local election or sit on town councils.
That means that Mr Nixey and almost 800 other British municipal councillors around France will not be able to run for re-election in March. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of British expatriates will no longer have an electoral say on how their town or village is run. The only solution is to apply for French nationality, but with an expected wait of up to two years, time has run out for Mr Nixey.
The local mayor Pierre Bachellerie, 70, a retired sheep farmer, is devastated on both counts.
“The English keep this village alive. There is a great atmosphere. Where would we be without them? Nowhere,” he said, pointing out that out of 70 people present at its New Year’s party, only two were French.
“They helped me get elected and now they can’t take part in local democracy. They live here, they pay all their taxes and social charges here, their housing tax just like the French. I can understand they can’t vote in European elections but municipal elections are different. If France could change the rules, it would be a good thing.”
As for having a Briton on the town council, he said: “It’s a great shame. I get on really well with Andrew.”
The council’s responsibilities cover everything from maintaining local roads and street lighting to dealing with sewage treatment and neighbourly disputes. It recently helped "digitise" the local cemetery.
Local Britons gathered at Mr Nixey’s farm concurred that he played a vital role in Franco-British entente that was lacking from other nearby villages.
Zoe and Peter Davis from Winchelsea beach, East Sussex, bought a small farm with 300 sheep here six years ago and quickly ran into trouble with the French neighbour.
“His cows had smashed through our fences and were running amok in the road and our garden, oOne day, Peter’s father, who has Alzheimer's, came out the front door to come face to face with an angry bull. Andrew came to our house he and Pierre the mayor helped us sort it out.” said Mrs Davis, 38.
Eventually, the farmer lost his permit to keep cattle. Mr Nixey also helped liaise with vets and iron over administrative problems with housing tax.
Mrs Davis said France’s network of 35,000 local mayors was a great set-up. “It’s like old-style England because you’ve got someone you can go and speak to in the village at any time no matter what it’s about.”
But with Britons no longer allowed to vote or stand for office, Mr Davis, 39, said: “What if in the future we get another mayor who’s anti-English? Without Pierre and Andrew on board, things could potentially be very different.”
Like Mr Nixey, some locals have asked for French nationality, with requests rocketing in the Haute-Vienne from 58 in 2017 to almost 1,200 in the past year. But many baulk at the obligatory French language and civilisation test and instead have applied for residency permits, which proffer no voting rights. Most have been told no responses will be forthcoming before January 31. The irony is that as things stand, while Britons cannot vote in France, French and other EU nationals will retain their right to vote in local elections in the UK.
Or more precisely, as Dr Ruvi Ziegler, a voting rights expert at Reading University, put it: “These rights have not been retracted by the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, nor are they protected. They have been left out. What happens later will depend on politics.”
Europe may end up an electoral “mosaic” in which some countries like the Netherlands allow British residents to vote and even stand for local election. Spain looks to be heading in that direction. “But France looks set to deny these rights for Britons, which could open it up to attack in national or European courts,” he said.
Back at their farm, Mrs Nixey said: “We weren’t allowed to vote for or against Brexit because we have been here for over 15 years and now we can’t vote in local elections. Surely that’s denying us a basic human right?”
Her husband said that while he felt “definitely British” and that it was “very important” that England beat France on Sunday in the rugby Six Nations, his home was in Saint-Martial.
“When it comes to voting, I don’t want to vote in the UK. I want to vote here,” he said.
“It does seem crazily unfair that we - and other foreign residents - get to pay tax but not to choose the people who then go on to decide how the money is spent. And for that, I blame the French more than the British.”
AN EU/UK FTA CAN BE DONE IN 2020
By Robert Lee
Summary
Now that Brexit “will get done”, focus switches to the EU/UK FTA negotiations. Can a trade deal be done by end 2020? Some Brexit opponents say it will take much longer, and the EU would prefer an extension. However, a deal is not only possible but very likely. The UK is now in a strong bargaining position, with a majority government prioritising the potential regulatory freedoms of Brexit. With a weak economy the EU needs to protect its huge trade surplus as the UK conducts parallel trade negotiations with non-EU countries. The parties start talks with full regulatory alignment and zero tariffs. The Political Declaration allows for the relatively limited goal of a Canada style FTA. This is eminently achievable.
“Take Back Control” and “Get Brexit Done” are two of the most effective slogans in British political history. Opposition parties in the recent election argued that the latter slogan was misleading, because the trade talks were still to come. However, the Brexit Withdrawal Bill now going through Parliament means that we will legally and politically leave the EU on Jan 31st. That is Brexit. The trade and other talks that now follow – and upcoming debates on new policies for Immigration, Agriculture, Fishing, and Regional Development amongst others – are the consequences of Brexit. This is what normal, independent democratic nations do – they conduct trade talks and devise their own policies. This is “Take Back Control” in action! The trade talks are the first item on our agenda as a fully independent country, and here are the reasons why they are likely to be successful.
The UK has a Strong and United Government
The UK now has a strong majority government that is remarkably united in its post-Brexit goals. The key Tory Remain rebels of the last Parliament have gone, and the new intake is heavily indebted to Boris Johnson’s leadership. He was heavily criticised for attempting a lengthy prorogation of Parliament, and then expelling rebel MP’s from the party. These drastic measures backfired from a short term tactical viewpoint, but they served to demonstrate the PM’s firmness of purpose. This will serve the UK well in the upcoming negotiations.
There is a Firm Deadline to the Talks
Trade experts agree that a firm deadline is vital if trade talks – particularly with the EU - are not to get bogged down. This need for a deadline became clear in the Withdrawal talks, when only the credible threat of No Deal forced the EU to re-open the original Withdrawal Agreement. A deadline of 31st Dec 2020 is contained in the revised Political Declaration, and both sides have committed in that declaration to meet that deadline. The UK has gone further – in a clear signal of intent – by putting this date into UK law in the Brexit Withdrawal Bill.
The EU Bargaining Position is Weak
The EU27 maintained a united front in the Withdrawal talks, but it was easy to maintain consensus while looking for protection for EU citizen’s rights, large UK payments to the EU, and strong adherence to EU regulation post-Brexit. This unity will be much harder to achieve in trade talks as the needs and priorities of the individual countries differ markedly. The EU would prefer the transition to be extended – thus securing more payments for the EU and keeping the UK closely aligned – but the UK has signalled that it is determined to achieve regulatory freedom. If the UK holds firm on this the EU’s unity will crack.
This is partly because the EU economy has slipped into recession in recent months, and it has little room for policy manoeuvre to combat any economic slowdown. The EU has in any case a very low sustainable growth rate, due amongst other factors to excessive regulation, and its financial system is highly vulnerable to a renewed banking crisis. In contrast, the UK economy has slowed but avoided recession, and should recover in 2020 on the back of rising real wages, fiscal stimulus, and a bounce in business confidence and investment. The EU therefore cannot afford to risk losing significant access to a relatively buoyant market where their exporters have been very successful. The EU’s surplus in traded goods with the UK was £99bn in 2018, with most of the EU’s exports to the UK concentrated in sectors such as agriculture, clothing and motor vehicles where the EU obliges the UK to impose high tariffs on non-EU products. In contrast, most UK exports to the EU are in low tariff sectors and in services (zero tariffs). The EU therefore needs a zero tariff agreement more than the UK does.
The UK will be Conducting Parallel Trade Talks with Non-EU Countries
The UK will simultaneously conduct trade talks with other countries, with the USA, Japan, Australia and New Zealand seen as priorities, as well as joining the Pacific trading bloc TPPII. These talks will put strong pressure on the EU to reach a deal. This pressure is exerted in at least two ways. Firstly, it strengthens the credibility of the Dec 2020 deadline, as the sooner we are able to offer other countries better access to our market the quicker progress will be. Greater regulatory freedom will also improve our offer to non-EU trading partners. Secondly, the more progress we make in other trade talks the more the EU will fear a shift of UK trade away from them and towards these faster growing markets (which after Brexit will comprise 85% of the global economy).
The Political Declaration Has Already Set Out the Direction of Travel
Most of the attention in the weeks leading up to the final withdrawal deal was focussed on the Irish border issue. However, crucial improvements were made to the Political Declaration. In particular, it was made clear that the very close economic partnership post-Brexit envisaged in Mrs May’s deal was to be replaced by a more conventional Canada style FTA allowing greater regulatory divergence by the UK. The Declaration states that: “a free trade agreement (should) ensure no tariffs, fees, charges, or quantitative restrictions across all sectors”.
The EU/UK talks start with Zero Tariffs/Quotas and Regulatory Alignment
The former International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, has been unfairly lampooned for writing that the EU/UK trade talks should be “the easiest in history”. The Withdrawal Agreement certainly took an absurdly long time, but he was specifically referring to the trade talks which of course can only formally begin after Jan 31st 2020. He was pointing out that these upcoming trade talks start from the uniquely advantageous position that there are no tariffs or quotas to abolish or reduce – the usual meat and drink of trade disputes – and that this should greatly reduce the time taken to reach a deal.
Dr Fox also rightly emphasises that the EU’s insistence on achieving “harmonisation” of regulations between trading partners goes against the grain of modern trade agreements. The great majority of WTO members now favour the “outcome-based equivalence approach”, which means ensuring standards and outcomes are similar but without rigid rules as to how these should come about. This enables the market to determine the most efficient ways of achieving outcomes. Much depends in the forthcoming EU/UK trade talks on whether the EU is prepare to bend towards the equivalence approach. If not, this would imply that only a relatively limited trade deal will be possible, along the lines of the EU/Canada trade deal (CETA), which can be used as a template. CETA focuses mainly on manufactured goods and agricultural products and even there not all tariffs were abolished. In line with most trade agreements there was only limited progress on services. It may be that the main talks on services and data sharing occur post-2020. As a heavily services dominated economy the UK may end up devising a new worldwide template for trade agreements in services.
Conclusion
As set out above, the conditions are there for the EU and the UK to reach a successful trade accord in 2020. If the political will is there the relatively short time available is not a limiting factor. The USA, Canada, and Mexico have just achieved a major and complex re-negotiation of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in less than twelve months, far sooner than all pundits suggested. The EU is a notoriously inflexible trade negotiator, but economic realities suggest that it will bend. Both negotiating teams are to be largely led by the same people who came to agreement in October last year, and success feeds on success!
Jan 3rd 2020
A good step in the right direction but I think it’s come too late.wrote:
(Sorry, late coming into this.) This is why I set the handbrake - and maybe also N if automatic or neutral if manual - and take my foot off the brake when stopped at lights at night, especially when raining.or at least high brake lights, go off after a car stops at traffic lights - that would apply to automatics.
