'Business can involve risks', shocker

What is the point of Project Fear now, with no election or second referendum to win -- a very long term campaign for 2024 or a J Phillips 'Rejoin'? 

Fear might just be a default for the nervous npb? Marx once explained that the great enthusiasm for Malthus in his day was because the bourgeoisie knew something was terminally wrong with capitalism but could not admit that to themselves so they rationalised in favour of overpopulation as the great threat. Could constant fears about expensive strawberries or offensively blue passports still be energising the thing?

Anyway, M Rahman, 'the managing director of Europe at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm' says,in the GRaun, with great originality:

With the clock ticking, a low-alignment deal with the EU now seems likely, but it comes with great risks

[The first risk is a] decision ruling out any extension to the transition period... [However, because it would be unpopular:] extending the transition, and thereby remaining in the single market and customs union with no say over their rules while handing over wads more cash [do we do that then?] [might increase] The risk of a no-deal cliff edge [oh dear] at the end of the year...  [which is] a key concern for financial markets and businesses.

There might even be

 a more assertive industrial policy – including “buy British” procurement rules and state aid for companies struggling to survive, both of which will cause tensions with Brussels.

Overall

Given all of the above, a scrappy, relatively unambitious, low-alignment trade deal is arguably the most plausible landing zone, in contrast to a deal that keeps both sides economically close and the UK locked into the EU’s regulatory orbit. The risk of tariffs, not just regulatory barriers, is real. Despite hopes for a less fraught “phase II”, it seems likely that the UK’s noisy Brexit psychodrama isn’t going to quieten down any time soon.

This seems to be a very risk-averse risk research and consulting firm!

Meanwhile, back in the Labour leadership race, K Starmer remains (sic) the favourite, although there is an ominous sign -- P Toynbee has endorsed him:

At each outing, it gets clearer why Starmer is so far the members’ favourite [stuff what the voters think] .... a weighty foil to the flippant showman....heft and experience... a man you’d want on your side defending you, the one across the Commons dispatch box that the Tories most fear...As a uniter of deadlocked left and right, Brexit and remain, it would be hard to find better than Starmer....Tories gloating at Labour disarray would get their own jolt of shock treatment on waking to find Starmer at the helm of an opposition back in serious business.