Friday 9 February 2018

Trumps Approved Spending Increase. Barnier Puts Transition in Doubt. Wedding plans and FlyBy Asteroid 2018 CB

Night Sky over Milton before Wedding
After a delay and shutdown of the US government again for a few hours, this time due to Republican House Speaker Senator Rand Paul objecting to the republicans not addressing the budget deficit, President Trump signed a major bill to allow government funding again for the next two years. The House voted 240 votes to 186 for the bill, the Senate by 71 to 28. There is a planned increase of $300 billion in military and domestic spending. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones index plunge appeared to have leveled out today.

By contrast, in the UK's FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 both responded negatively to Michel Barniers comments at midday at the end of this weeks Brexit negotiations. the pound also dropped again to €1.13 after having peaked at around €1.15.

The UK and EU perspectives on the issue were very different. Michel Barnier had stated that the transition period was not a given as there were still substantial disagreements and he still did not have a clear understanding of what the UK wanted.

David Davis for the UK expressed surprise as he thought the UK position was clear.

Germany's Spiegel was more interested in the coalition chaos occurring in their government but did have an article which pointed out that the UK had failed to present its expected plan for the preferred relationship with the EU after Brexit.

Apart from irritation and amazement at the UK position on EU citizen's rights during the transition and the issues of the irish border, there is amusement at thee fact that the UK is now attempting to change its tack on negotiating new trade deals with other countries. Apparently there are 650 contracts and 65 trade agreements that currently fall under the EU. London is now arguing that upon Brexit, the UK should become a third partner in the bilateral agreements between the EU and non-EU countries. Something not popular wither with the EU, or with countries such as Canada who have agreements in place with the EU.

It is said that what this has revealed to diplomats how weak the UK's position is on the global playing field.

This is all rendered insignificant by the crescendo of preparations for Sean and Louise's wedding tomorrow, which has left many of us frazzled, anxious, and in my case sleepless. My relaxation exercise this evening was to go out along Fen Road, towards the River Cam, to get some pictures of the brilliant nighttime sky before the next rainy front rolled in.

This on the night where an asteroid the size of a housing block (15 m to 40 m in diameter)  buzzed Earth at the astronomically very close distance of 39,000 miles. Asteroid 2018 CB was only observed 5 days beforehand, the problem being that whilst it could have a devastating effect if hitting the earth directly, the relatively small rock ball is difficult to spot until almost upon us.


No comments:

Post a Comment