Saturday, 4 January 2020

Gruan in period of reflection while the poor go unwashed

Almost no Brexit news today, as the Graun mulls over recent events. In related news (!) the actual web page for today has three items supporting L Nandy for Labour leadership -- the usual news item that she has written a piece, then the actual piece.It is obviously so good that el Graun includes it twice in different sections.

It is quite good, actually.I don't think there was a single mention of Brexit.I think the thing that must have caught their eye was this:
In this fight, Green MP Caroline Lucas is not our enemy.

I used the Graun search engine to find other stuff I might have missed, and came across a  rare  specimen --an anti-EU story:

EU accused of seeking to cut funds for poor in post-Brexit cost savings
Plan to drop dedicated fund while defence spending rises dismissed as false economy

The UK’s withdrawal will leave a large hole to plug. [why? Do we pay a lot in? Give us a figure...] Senior EU officials have described the negotiations over the commission’s proposed €1,135bn (£970bn) in spending commitments as the most difficult ever undertaken....the overall budget of Europe needs to be tightened up. Brexit is one of the arguments. The other is the need for the strengthening of the defence of Europe...The commission wants to spend €13bn on a European defence fund

The current budget ending in 2020 contained a €3.8bn fund for European aid to the most deprived (FEAD) to help EU member states provide people with food and basic supplies such as clothing, shoes, soap and shampoo....About 33.1 million people or 6.6% of the EU population are estimated to be living in severe material deprivation....Under the proposed 2021-27 budget there would be no such dedicated fund but member states would be asked to devote a minimum of €2bn in total to food and basic material assistance....The commission has said it hopes member states will allocate twice that minimum amount – but there would not be any obligation.

The GRaun in more ebullient days would doubtless have blamed we Leave voters for leaving (!) lots of Europeans unwashed.

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