So Goodman wants a testing system
"one that will put Starmer back in his box, quell the calls for a national lockdown, relax the three-tiered restrictions plan and quieten those restive Tory backbenchers:"
And putting aside the political maneuvering, how about something which deals with the pandemic and saves lives?
Research in our universities is a tricky one, I remember back in the 1980s my department was offered part of Ronald Reagan " ,"Star wars " defensive missile system research project on condition that all those involved in the research, including post grad students, clerical and library staff were politically vetted, we were not told which political organizations or views were unacceptable or what would happen to existing members who failed the test. In the end the offer was withdrawn.
The only three blocks with globally significant economic, political and diplomatic clout are China, the USA and the EU. As the UK is a relative minnow outside all these blocks we are going to have very little influence on geopolitics in future.
Gove is probably one of them, remember the " you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" comment and his look of horror on the day after the referendum when the result came in. Leave was never supposed to win, Johnson and Gove support for leave was never more than Westminster political games.
The difficulty for the government will be that No Deal will hit those bits of the economy ( farming, car manufacturing, finance etc) which have so far been least effected by the Corona virus, the hit to government finances will be huge.
Apparently Gove ( and Sunak) have seen the treasury estimates of the fiscal cost of mitigation for No Deal and are aghast.
Voters now appear to have changed their minds and now think the decision to leave a mistake
The EU negotiators would like a deal, there will be economic consequences for them if they don't get one,but their priority is, and has always been, maintaining the integrity of the Single Market which is integral to the whole European project. They would certainly sacrifice a deal rather than agree to many of the UKs demands
Voters are fickle, a growing majority now say they think leaving the EU is a mistake.it does seem incredible that with only weeks to go I still don't know if I will need a visa or work per for business trips to France or Germany or even if my professional qualifications will be recognised there. Importers and exporters still don't know if they will face tariffs.
It all seems very different to what we were promised back in 2016
Johnson knows he must get a deal, the fiscal measures necessary to tide the economy through No Deal arechuge and it would take years if not decades to get public finances back on an even footing.
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