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After all these years... remainers still go "AH HA but fishing is a tiny contribution to the economy".. Well why might that be? Why has it withered? Why has it become a totemic issue in our relationship with Brussels? Yes it is tiny now. But for millions that's the sodding point.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) December 17, 2020
1. Fishing had been declining for much of the twentieth century. The number of UK fishermen more than halved in mid-century: from nearly 48,000 in 1938 to 21,000 in 1970. By 1970 - the year *before* the UK signed the Treaty of Accession - fishing made up less than 0.1% of UK GDP.
2. That decline had many causes. A century of over-fishing had left stocks dangerously depleted. Younger generations were moving out, in search of safer and better-paid work inland. And the "Cod Wars" with Iceland (1958-76) triggered the collapse of the Atlantic trawler fleet.
3. The "Cod Wars", in which Iceland expelled GB trawlers from its waters, were a grim reminder (a) that other states have sovereignty too & (b) that power-politics still exist outside the EU. For Cold-War reasons, the US backed Iceland. The UK had to fold. https://t.co/t8wdvtCgMb

4. There were other challenges, too. In the early 1970s, Norway & Iceland were dumping large quantities of frozen fish on the British market, driving down prices for domestic suppliers. The fishing fleet badly needed investment for modernisation but was struggling to raise funds.
Let's unpack this
Since Brussels is convinced that leaving the EU is an act of unprecedented self-harm -- and it could be proved right, we'll see -- I don't understand why they want to crib and confine the UK within their imperial regulatory reach in perpetuity. Why bother with a basket case?
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) December 11, 2020
"Since Brussels is convinced"
I like that
Personalise it to Brussels
Not 27 EU nations, our friends, neighbours
"convinced that leaving is an unprecedented act of self-harm"
it has been an act of self-harm
see the damage so far
see why no deal has to be sold as an Australia style deal
see why it has to be hidden within the "massive success" of covid
"it could be proved right"
See UK government forecasts
Not a single one positive
See Liz Truss - unable to explain how any trade deal will make us better off
But not to worry we will "mightily prosper"
"I don't see why they want to crib and confine the UK"
The UK is asking for a deal
The EU will offer one
If the UK doesn't like it well perhaps you should have thought of that before selling simplist fantasy bullshit to lie to voters
But to claim, as Steve Baker does, that this is a UK strength is false. /1
Disingenuous.
— Paul James Cardwell (@Cardwell_PJ) December 11, 2020
Key words here - \u2018continuity agreement\u2019. The hard negotiating work was done by the EU over many years (with UK input).
How many agreements has UK secured which are *not* continuity agreements? None.
Is there an agreement with the UK\u2019s largest trade partner? No. https://t.co/5skuKWwd0M
First, it hardly needs to be said that a continuity agreement is not the same as a new agreement from scratch. The current EU agreements were negotiated with the UK as a Member State, so the UK's interests were already built in. /2
The proof of this can be seen by comparing agreements (eg. the new Japan-UK and EU-Japan) side by side. The differences are often due to the lack of need of details such as what the equivalent of 'lawyer' is in 24 official EU languages. /3
So, the UK is able to piggy-back on the long-term negotiations that took place by the EU. In the case of Japan, I was a stagiaire in the Commission in Tokyo right at the start of the pre-pre-negotiation process ... in 2000-1! /4
Is the EU particularly cumbersome? There is an argument to be made than the UK (or any single state) could act more nimbly because of the lack of need to integrate the interests of 27+ Member States. BUT is there any evidence of this? Not really. /5
#Bangabandhu
#BlackDay
1. Myth of three million Bengali, 2 lac women raped by Pakistan Army
👇
https://t.co/1AdyFGjCtK
2. Mukti Bahini the forgotten terrorists
Thread on the myth of 3 million killed, 200,000 raped in 1971!
— Fidato (@tequieremos) April 24, 2019
In order to cherry pick proof for the plucked-out-of-thin-air 3 million figure allegedly murdered by Pakistan Army in '71, Mujib ur Rehman constituted a Commission on Jan 29 '72 to locate verifiable evidence.
(1/N) https://t.co/fB242WhLzO
3. Why was Operation Search Light launched
https://t.co/kAYLjAj92P
4. Myth of Bengalis being discriminated during the selection process for the armed forces.
After President Yahya Khan had postponed the national assembly session scheduled to be held on March 3 1971 under the pressure of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, it had disastrous consequences. It gave Mujib ur Rehman the license to fulfill his nefarious designs.
— Fidato (@tequieremos) December 7, 2019
(1/5)#TragedyOfErrors
5. The nexus of RAW and Mukti Bahini
https://t.co/jzGaUznN9N
6. The Bengali representation in bureaucracy
Mukti Bahini terrorists along with RAW operatives and soldiers from the Indian Army-operated training camps in the Indian states of West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura.
— Fidato (@tequieremos) December 16, 2019
(contd) https://t.co/41z02EbxLb
7. Tragedy of #EastPakistan
👇
https://t.co/txcGOFcKyr
8. Forgotten Massacres in East Pakistan
👇
https://t.co/3uB1UOADqr
#Bangabandhu
#VictoryDay
#BlackDay
#SheikhMujibUrRehman
"Tragedy of East Pakistan"
— Fidato (@tequieremos) December 16, 2019
The year 1971 is the saddest chapter in the history of Pakistan. Not just for Pakistan but for Muslims of the entire subcontinent, if not Muslims of the world.
(contd) #Bangabandhu#BlackDay #VictoryDay #SheikhMujiburRahman pic.twitter.com/9yjvKdXlEa