Andy Richardson: Did Number 10 forget to do its homework?
Here’s how much the fishing industry is worth to the UK economy: £0.4 billion per year.
Here’s how much the aerospace industry is worth: £11bn per year.
Here’s how much the car industry is worth: £49.1bn.
And here’s how much the financial services industry is worth: £125.9bn.
You might think it’s odd, therefore, that the Brexit crunch has come down to fish rather than, say, financial services. Did Number 10 forget to do its homework? Are we focusing on symbolic causes rather than the bigger picture? Is the price of cod going to skyrocket to become more expensive than gold? Who can say.
The issue is politically charged on both sides of the Channel, and the losses we’ll incur from other industries while holding out for a deal on fish are incomparable. Not that Nigel Farage would see it that way; though he was last seen applying for the job of lorry park attendant somewhere in Kent as we get ready to ultra-jams come January 1. There’s a concern, however, that whatever the negotiators hammer out for Britain at this late stage can only be the equivalent of a present bought on Christmas Day at a petrol station.
Number 10 lets out ministers to do the daily media round and discuss the issues of the day. It was good to see Alan Partridge taking his turn with Nick Ferrari on LBC. When Partridge was asked why Britain had got a vaccine ahead of the USA and the EU, he let loose. We’re a much better country than any of those, he said. It’s the Brexit bonus, he suggested.
The Europeans and Americans subsequently suggested the UK had prioritised speed over winning public confidence, though let’s not worry about that in our race for British exceptionalism. Rumours that Partridge was being played by a man who told Russia to ‘go away and shut up’ and who later made a Horlicks of all of the UK’s exams have yet to be confirmed. Though Partridge did look suspiciously like Gavin Williamson.
Pundits are lining up to have the Covid vaccine live on TV. From Piers Morgan to America’s Dr Faucci, it could be the 2020 hit TV show.
As UK PLC faces up to the biggest economic crash in 69 squintillion years, the Bank of England is turning a blind eye to £50bn that’s apparently gone missing.
The money, three quarters of all UK bank notes in existence, is nowhere to be seen. Has anyone checked down the back of the sofa?
