EU and UK ‘should put relations first’
MP SAYS IT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE TO IGNORE THE GROWING COVID FIGURES
THE European Union’s top official urged both sides to think about their long-term relationship and put an end to the bloc’s spat with the UK over post-brexit trade arrangements.
Lengthy negotiations over Britain’s divorce from the EU have already been complicated, and the practical separation between the former partners proves to be a thorny issue, too.
In their latest feud, the EU is angry over the British Government’s delay in implementing new checks on some goods coming into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, as was agreed upon in the Brexit deal. On the other hand, Britain says those checks are imposing a big burden on UK businesses and destabilising Northern Ireland’s peace.
“I’ve always said I want a new beginning with old friends,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said yesterday.
“We see that at the beginning now there are difficulties, and there are serious issues that have to be solved. I’m deeply convinced, with a constructive approach, and with the notion that we know it’s a longterm relationship we are building here, these issues just can be overcome.”
At the heart of their dispute lies the Northern Ireland protocol, a Brexit mechanism that created a trade border in the Irish Sea to avoid creating a hard border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.
An open Irish border helped underpin the peace process that ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
“We know that the withdrawal agreement and the protocol are the best we could have gotten in a complicated situation,” Ms Von der Leyen said. “Now it’s our duty on both sides to make sure that it works and to implement it.”
The bloc is threatening legal action if the UK does not fully bring in the checks, which include a ban on chilled meats from England, Scotland and Wales going to Northern Ireland beginning next month.
US president Joe Biden has even been drawn into the spat, raising concerns about the potential threat to Northern Ireland’s peace accord.
Relations between the EU and the UK have been strained since a Brexit transition period ended on January 1.
The two sides have also argued so far this year over issues ranging from Covid-19 vaccine supplies to the full diplomatic recognition of the EU in Britain.
MY name is Gareth Butterfield and I am a Slimming World Husband. It’s a self-given title, and anyone who’s had a partner that’s gone on the Derbyshire-based company’s weight-loss journey will know why.
About six years ago my wife got a bit of a wake-up call and realised she’d inadvertently piled on a few pounds. I honestly couldn’t care less at the time, but she suddenly became slightly larger than the girl she had always quietly referred to as her “fat friend”, and decided enough was enough.
So she joined our local group. We lived in Hatton at the time and she was a bag of nerves ahead of that first meeting in the village hall. But she came out energised, enthusiastic, and full of ideas.
Over the coming days I was to be introduced to the idea of “Syns”, and “food-optimising”, and “speed food” and, for the first time in our marriage, and indeed in our lives, our meals would be very different.
Now, I’m partial to the odd pizza. I like a pint of beer. I don’t get on with brown bread and skimmed milk and low-calorie sweeteners and I can’t exist without my daily packet of crisps. But I’m quite fortunate. I seem to be able to eat and drink whatever I like and not put weight on. My wife hates the fact I can be so relaxed about what I eat but I knew that if I carried on living on oven chips and pasties, she’d struggle to stick to her new way of life.
And, at the time, she was a terrible cook. One of the things you’ll need to do with Slimming World is cook. A lot. And I’ve always quite enjoyed it. So I unwittingly became an equal partner in her ambition to shed a few stone. She followed the Slimming World advice to the letter. She never missed a weigh-in, and we both started to enjoy fresh food, cleared out some of our fatty cupboard-staple foods and switched them for low-calorie alternatives.
She lost her first stone in a matter of weeks, and then a second one dropped off. And no sooner had she completed a total replenishment of her wardrobe to suit her new, more slender frame, she then went on to lose another stone.
My weight hasn’t changed at all. To be honest, it really hasn’t been that hard for her to lose three stone over the years. Keeping it off has been trickier for her, but Slimming World teaches you to apply common sense to your food choices, and then motivates you to resist the numerous temptations that come along.
It comes at a cost, though. As a Slimming World Husband I’ve had to learn so much about counting Syns and how they are measured from product to product, and discovering new ways of cooking some of the meals we always enjoyed with carefree abandon has been a challenge.
And then there’s the Tupperware mountain. Because we cook from fresh all the time now, we tend to make batches of small meals which can be frozen and then heated up quickly when we’re short on time. Our Tupperware cupboard is filled to bursting with every size and shape of box you can imagine.
But, honestly, I’ve really enjoyed joining her on a Slimming World journey. It’s been wonderful watching the wife’s self-esteem reaching new echelons, and seeing her exploit her new-found fitness by taking up running.
She’s also become a very proficient cook in the time she’s been watching her weight so closely, which has taken the pressure off me a bit.
And she looks fabulous. I’ve always been punching above my weight in my marriage, and I genuinely didn’t mind the fact she’d put a bit of weight on, but her new self-confidence shines through and emphasises her natural good looks. I never forget how lucky I am.
Slimming World has changed Lizzy’s life to such an extent that she’s now become a consultant in our home town of Ashbourne, and she meets around 100 members every week.
I know how important my role as a Slimming World Husband has been and, as proud as I am of anyone that has achieved their weight-loss goals, here’s a shameless, self-congratulatory salute to the forgotten heroes. The support crew that switches their diets even though it’s not necessary for them; that are always there to console after a disappointing weigh-in; that wash up all the Tupperware; and that tolerate the endless shopping trips to try on new dress sizes.
They couldn’t do it without us.
DISAPPOINTED but optimistic sums up the mood of Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant as he reacted to the postponement of “Freedom Day”.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed further easing of the lockdown restrictions because of the increasing Covid cases.
Mr Fabricant said: “I am very disappointed that Freedom Day or ‘Step 4’ won’t now happen on Monday June 21 and has been postponed to July 19.
“Many had been looking forward to Freedom Day and I know businesses and individuals will be unhappy about this decision. We desperately need to get the economy moving again.
“But the new Delta variant from India is 60 per cent more contagious and more likely to cause serious disease than the original Covid. But at least we have not had to go into reverse and stricter rules have not had to be imposed.
“We can all be relieved that this Indian variant does not evade the vaccine though a few people with two shots may still catch the disease although it is unlikely.
“And we can take comfort in that we are way ahead of Europe in our vaccination programme.
“I do understand that this is a race. A race between Covid vaccination and the spreading disease. By 19th July, two thirds of all adults and everyone over 50 will have had two vaccine shots and it is expected that by then we can then move to Step 4 and near normality. In the past, the PM has always said that his dates for change are the very earliest; this time he said that if the infection rate does improve quicker than anticipated, Step 4 may come sooner – though I think it unlikely.
“I am pleased that there will be some exemptions from next Monday and this includes weddings over 30 guests and certain other events which will be permitted if there is sufficient social distancing. I know a number of wedding venues in and near Lichfield will be relieved by this.
“This delay won’t be a popular decision, but when the various Step dates were announced last year, the Indian variant was unknown. It would be utterly irresponsible of any
Government to ignore this variant and changed infection rates. I hope that, provided no new unknown variant emerges, by the second half of July we will be back to normal though personally I am making no foreign holiday arrangements as quarantines from some countries will still be in place. I suggest others are cautious about overseas travel too.
“We are all going to have to live with Covid by keeping vaccinated, but I hope that in a year, we can look back at this dark period as a distant memory of things past.”
I do understand that this is a race. A race between Covid vaccination and the spreading disease.