It's not only a HGV driver shortage impacting UK supply chains, but also Brexit has removed cabotage, which made UK haulage more efficient. A truck from Spain dropping fruit in Glasgow could pick up dairy in Glasgow for delivery in Hull, then fish in Hull for delivery in Madrid.
This created additional flexibility because the driver involved was employed in Spain, not UK. The same was true for UK-employed drivers travelling across Europe. UK haulage companies are now effectively excluded from a system operating across 27 countries, hence no shortages.
For reference, the EU cabotage regulations, alongside the revised UK rights as a third country
Additionally, there is another element of flexibility that is negatively impacted by Brexit. Articulated vehicles separate into a tractor unit & a trailer. Trailers can be switched. Vehicle registration rules, now different in UK from EU, make leaving a trailer in UK less easy.
A recent logistics industry article alluding to these points is available here: trans.info/en/there-s-a-e…
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As we all look back at #LiveAid40, I would like to tell the story of my experience as a 20yo attending the Wembley show on 13 July 1985. These are never-before seen photos, taken on my Canon A1 with a 50mm lens from my position centre front in the crowd
🧵
At the time of the show, I lived as a student in North London. My friend Tom alerted me that Keith Prowse agencies would release a few extra tickets on Friday 12 July - I managed to get one, as did he. So I turned up to meet with Tom on the steps at Wembley at 9:30am on 13 July
As the turnstiles opened at 10am, the first few thousand people rushed in, but I hung back because I hadn't found Tom yet
- driving through rural Northamptonshire, stopped at village shop/PO
- went in, picked up paper & snack, then waited in short queue to pay
- with 1 in front of me, lady shop-keeper said she needed to pop to the loo. We both said no probs 🧵
- 1 minute later, older lady pulls up, picks up Daily Mail and joins queue
- 1 minute later she asks have we been waiting long "no" we said
- 1 minute later she tuts, walks round the shop and bangs on the PO glass screen
- comes back just as the lady shop-keeper appears again
- after the first person is served, I let the older lady go first
- 'that and two first class stamps' she says, no please
- shopkeeper politely explains stamps have to be bought at the PO counter
- she tuts again, goes to get stamps and leaves just ahead of me
Once again, for those who struggle to acknowledge reality.
Last month, weather acutely impacted the source of many winter salad vegetables grown in Morocco and Spain, potentially impacting all of Europe 🧵
2/
Before Brexit, EU food supply-chains were largely frictionless & secure, as all countries were members of a single market. Imports from Morocco were covered by a single EU-Morocco agreement. Supplies from Spain were internal to the single market. ipcc.ch/apps/njlite/ar…
3/ Since Pre-Brexit, UK had a risky domestic food strategy, as supermarkets are uniquely powerful enough to set prices at the farm gate. Post-Brexit, those domestic supply risks still exist, but are compounded by additional risks to imported fresh produce fwi.co.uk/business/super…
3/ Soon, newspapers were claiming a 'huge win' for Brexit because a brand new freight ferry service by United Seaways was 'up-&-running' between Tangiers and Poole, providing a weekly service bypassing the need for trucks to drive through Spain & France express.co.uk/news/politics/…
I am convinced if the UK vote on 23 June 2016 had gone the other way, there would be no war today
Soft power is a risk mitigation
Voting for Brexit has led to a reduction in Britain's soft power, whilst the success of manipulating the vote showed Putin that his plan for Europe, NATO and Russia was workable. It charged his batteries.
A demographic defence invariably mentions the following attributes being 'exceptional' UK issues:
- population density (or 'lived density')
- obesity
- BAME residents as % of population
- Vitamin 'D' deficiency
Each can be challenged separately
3.1 "our demographics" defence
Population ('raw') density is population divided by land area
UK has one of the highest population densities in Europe, but not the highest (Belgium and Netherlands being higher, Germany and Italy only moderately lower)
3.2 "our demographics" defence
To see how deaths relate to 'raw' density, we plot the main European countries on a chart, then calculate an R-squared value to see how strong the correlation is. If R-squared is 1.0 the correlation is exact, & gets weaker the closer it is to zero