Binaries reduce UK international prestige as Times eats three dogs

R Behr said he got so stressed over Brexit he made himself ill. One can only worry about his recovery on reading this piece in the Graun 
 
It starts well enough:

The essential issue here is that Brexit can make EU membership go away, but not the EU itself. When the only problem was being inside, escape was the only solution worth talking about. 

Then the issues deepen and broaden. It is not just expensive strawberries any more -- it is our national prestige!

even if it were economically sensible to fall back on WTO rules (and it isn’t), the question of Britain’s geopolitical alignment would still remain unanswered.... Johnson took foreign policy, security and defence cooperation – the stuff of which international alliances are made – off the table [he did? permanently?] ....The whole point of new “global” Britain, as an upgrade from the old European version, is that it is freer to deal with other global players peer-to-peer. The limitations of that approach are quickly becoming clear. ...In less volatile times an independent seat at the WTO would have been meagre compensation for losing Britain’s influence [!] as one of the big three EU members.

The back-tracking on Huawei involvement in 5G is the issue that provides the legs. Npb consensus seems to be that Trump is responsible. The Huawei executive on Newsnight last night kept trying to say this, although E Maitlis was not put off and kept demanding he give his personal view of China's foreign policy, sort of 'Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party?' No doubt the chance to call someone out and be a real celebrity on Twitter prevailed over showing solidarity with Islington this time.

Back to Behr:

A country that wants a deal to access US markets can expect to have its foreign investment relations vetted for intimacy with undesirable states....Any prime minister would prioritise the security alliance with the US over a commercial deal with China. But Johnson happens to be the first prime minister to be confronted with the choice in stark, binary terms

It's those appalling stark binaries again!

And personal flaw, naturally:

Would Johnson have been a leaver if his Downing Street ambitions had come to fruition five years earlier and he had spent some time hobnobbing with fellow heads of government at EU summits? I doubt it.

Maybe a bit personally revealing there too? Overall:

Johnson cannot address this challenge without exposing the basic flaw in Brexit, which is that the sovereignty he so jealously demands from Brussels buys no clout in Washington, Beijing or anywhere else...The UK national interest requires a new strategic partnership with the EU, but Johnson refuses even to include that concept in the negotiation. The obstacle used to be confidence that Britain had no need of Europe. It looks now more like fear of admitting how much of Europe Britain still needs.

Meanwhile the Times has been runnning a few stories about wokedom at the BBC:

There was this (subscription):

A disproportionate focus on diversity, coupled with removing free licences for the over-75s, is alienating its core audience

 and this dogwhistle:

BBC advises all staff to use trans‑friendly pronouns

Then the BBC 'head of standards' says today 

Corporation journalists had been seduced by the instant gratification of social media, he said, posing risks to the BBC brand as the tone of debate on such platforms sours....“The way social media has developed in recent times, particularly Twitter, has become adversarial, more argumentative, more combative, more polarised and sometimes toxic,” Mr Jordan told the Lords communications and digital committee yesterday. “It can suck people in, the immediacy of it can be alluring, the live dynamics of it can be seductive to some people....“We have had issues about the use of social media in the BBC where people have not adhered to our standards or have overstepped the mark.”

Mr Jordan assured the committee that not all BBC journalists read The Guardian, [love it!] but acknowledged that the broadcaster had succumbed to left-liberal groupthink in the past...“We had issues, for example, about tracking the rise of Euroscepticism. Across the BBC, did we do that adequately? No, we didn’t...

All of this is overdue from the Beeb and probably shows the arm-twisting going on behind the scenes. At the same time, you can't help but admire the Times for attacking rivals to its own Times Radio (BBC Radio 4) and newspaper (Graun and Twitter) as well!

The Graun is just not in the same class but prefers to extend its own international prestige  with this:

Is it worth making your own curry paste?