Brexit through the magic land of Eksive

By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED MAY 31, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 31, 2019

“What’s this?”
      “It’s the document you asked for, Sir.”
      In the heart of the capital, on the banks of the Big River is an ancient palace. Except — like much of reality — that’s only what it looks like. It’s barely 180 years old, built to replace the real ancient palace, which was destroyed by fire.
      Deep within it is a cupboard, in a room frequently used by the tribe known as the Ærgists. It has been spared the sewage that leaks through the ceilings in other parts of the building, but almost certainly not the asbestos.
      It’s through that cupboard the two men have walked.

Five thoughts as Brexit takes a mini-break. Part 3: They ain’t seen nothing yet

By Peter Ungphakorn
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE101.WORLD, MAY 1, 2019 | RE-POSTED HERE MAY 7, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 7, 2019

For months, the United Kingdom’s chaotic efforts to set up its departure from the European Union (Brexit) saw almost daily twists and turns. Tension mounted and the British moved ever closer to crashing over the cliff-edge and out of the EU, with only the flimsiest of parachutes.

This is the third of five parts on thoughts on what happened in the last couple of years and on what lies ahead. Several have been discussed before. They all contain new developments:

• after all the frantic to-ing and fro-ing, almost nothing has changed for Britain
• nearly three years of political debate has failed to produce better-informed arguments
• if those past three years were bad, what lies ahead is going to be worse
• Theresa May’s handling has been disastrous but she might still get what she wants — just
• simplistic definitions of democracy and sovereignty are unhelpful

3. It can only get worse

Five thoughts as Brexit takes a mini-break. Part 5: democracy and sovereignty weaponised

By Peter Ungphakorn
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE101.WORLD, MAY 3, 2019
POSTED MAY 7, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 7, 2019

For months, the United Kingdom’s chaotic efforts to set up its departure from the European Union (Brexit) saw almost daily twists and turns. Tension mounted and the British moved ever closer to crashing over the cliff-edge and out of the EU, with only the flimsiest of parachutes.

This is the last of five parts on thoughts on what happened in the last couple of years and on what lies ahead. Several have been discussed before. They all contain new developments:

• after all the frantic to-ing and fro-ing, almost nothing has changed for Britain
• nearly three years of political debate has failed to produce better-informed arguments
• if those past three years were bad, what lies ahead is going to be worse
• Theresa May’s handling has been disastrous but she might still get what she wants — just
• simplistic definitions of democracy and sovereignty are unhelpful

5. What exactly does ‘undemocratic’ mean?

Five thoughts as Brexit takes a mini-break. Part 2: Dishonesty and trade-offs

By Peter Ungphakorn
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE101.WORLD, APRIL 30, 2019
RE-POSTED HERE MAY 7, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 7, 2019

For months, the United Kingdom’s chaotic efforts to set up its departure from the European Union (Brexit) saw almost daily twists and turns. Tension mounted and the British moved ever closer to crashing over the cliff-edge and out of the EU, with only the flimsiest of parachutes.

This is the second part of five on thoughts on what happened in the last couple of years and on what lies ahead. Several have been discussed before. They all contain new developments:

• after all the frantic to-ing and fro-ing, almost nothing has changed for Britain
• nearly three years of political debate has failed to produce better-informed arguments
• if those past three years were bad, what lies ahead is going to be worse
• Theresa May’s handling has been disastrous but she might still get what she wants — just
• simplistic definitions of democracy and sovereignty are unhelpful

2. Dishonesty and a failure to recognise trade-offs

Five thoughts as Brexit takes a mini-break. Part 1: Red Queen Theresa’s Race

By Peter Ungphakorn
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE101.WORLD, APRIL 29, 2019
RE-POSTED HERE MAY 7, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 7, 2019

For months, the United Kingdom’s chaotic efforts to set up its departure from the European Union (Brexit) saw almost daily twists and turns. Tension mounted and the British moved ever closer to crashing over the cliff-edge and out of the EU, with only the flimsiest of parachutes.

Members of the British Parliament were under round-the-clock pressure. They were the target of torrents of abuse. Several received death threats — taken seriously since MP Jo Cox was murdered by a right-wing extremist during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.

Exhausted and stressed-out, they struggled mentally and emotionally to make rational decisions as over and over they debated and voted on the same issues.

Five thoughts as Brexit takes a mini-break. Part 4: is the Prime Minister the problem?

By Peter Ungphakorn
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE101.WORLD, MAY 2, 2019
RE-POSTED HERE MAY 7, 2019 | UPDATED MAY 7, 2019

For months, the United Kingdom’s chaotic efforts to set up its departure from the European Union (Brexit) saw almost daily twists and turns. Tension mounted and the British moved ever closer to crashing over the cliff-edge and out of the EU, with only the flimsiest of parachutes.

This is the fourth of five parts on thoughts on what happened in the last couple of years and on what lies ahead. Several have been discussed before. They all contain new developments:

• after all the frantic to-ing and fro-ing, almost nothing has changed for Britain
• nearly three years of political debate has failed to produce better-informed arguments
• if those past three years were bad, what lies ahead is going to be worse
• Theresa May’s handling has been disastrous but she might still get what she wants — just
• simplistic definitions of democracy and sovereignty are unhelpful

4. Theresa May’s handling worsened divisions

Caught up in a war — the WTO and Brexit

By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED APRIL 6, 2019 | UPDATED JUNR 6, 2019

For some it’s “no deal” — a Brexit with nothing agreed between the UK and EU. Others prefer to hide that by calling it “leaving the EU on WTO terms”. What does that mean?

These are slides from a presentation given at Chatham House, London on March 11, 2019, looking at some of the implications.

One last go. The Article 24 red herring in less than 400 words. Think ‘highway code’

By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED FEBRUARY 16, 2019 | UPDATED FEBRUARY 16, 2019

They still don’t understand. Article 24 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is still being pushed as a silver bullet to solve “no deal” Brexit.

“Article 24 […] is a simple, temporary basic free trade agreement (FTA) between UK and EU which allows tariffs and quotas to continue at zero whilst a full and comprehensive FTA is negotiated instead,” is a typical and very recent claim.

GATT Article 24 is nothing of the kind. The claim has been debunked over and over and over and over and over. Still the message hasn’t got through.

So here it is again, this time in less than 400 words.

What have the UK and Switzerland agreed on trade post-Brexit?

By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED FEBRUARY 5, 2019 | UPDATED JANUARY 27, 2021

A summary of this is on the EU Relations Law blog, here

What have the UK and Switzerland agreed on their trade relationship post-Brexit? Essentially, they have been partly “rolling over” to the UK the present Swiss-EU trade relationship.

EU agreements are being “rolled over” into UK agreements in order to allow as much continuity as possible for trade and for business. They are called “continuity agreements”.

Below are an introduction to the provisions on goods and services, followed by Swiss government summaries of key parts of its agreements with the UK, mainly on goods but also narrowly on services.

But first, some context and explanations.

‘Do trade deals to escape the WTO.’ So why bother with it? — a presentation

By Peter Ungphakorn
POSTED FEBRUARY 13, 2019 | UPDATED FEBRUARY 13, 2019

This page is based on a presentation given on February 7, 2019, introducing the basics and current issues in the World Trade Organization (WTO). It includes a link to download a handout of the presentation.

It was part of a contribution to a “Westminster Workshop” on parliamentary oversight of trade agreements organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK in London, February 6–8, 2019.