Concessions to withdrawal agreements proposed by hard Brexiteers led up the Thames by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage dominated political conversation this morning. We’re also looking at discussion around elitism in the opera world and new developments in brewing.
To join in the conversation you can click on the links in the comments below to expand and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth reading as the day goes on.
Tories threaten to vote down withdrawal treaty without compromises over fishing
For a second day running fisheries policy was brought into focus during our live coverage of political events. Here are some of the points you’ve been raising in the comments after several haddock were flung into the Thames as part of a protest.
‘We Scots are more interested in the lack of respect for our vote’
I’m at a loss to understand Tory MPs’ fascination with fish. Their passion for pollock is so overwhelming that they appear willing to scuttle the good ship Government rather than allow horrid foreign nets to capture honest Scottish fish.
Meanwhile we Scots, flattered though we are by England’s unexpected dedication to the sovereignty of our waters, are rather more interested in the lack of respect for our vote to remain in the EU.
It appears sovereignty only goes so far.
Elaine Nibloe
‘A truly embarrassing display of ridiculousness’
Any of the dozens of journalists who have turned up for his truly embarrassing display of ridiculousness going to ask Rees-Mogg why [a firm he is partner in] has stashed £60 million in a Russian bank against which there are EU sanctions?
FeralMeryl
‘It’s time for some straight talking’
Another day, another impact between reality and the lies that were fed to various groups during the referendum campaign and since.
The Brexiters were so sure they’d get everything their own way, and when they didn’t they talk about, as Gove did yesterday, “disappointing intransigence”, which when translated means that the EU are completely predictably protecting their own interests.
It’s time for some straight talking. Stop the lies and level with the British people about what we can reasonably expect.
AnnieHawk
Opera isn’t elitist. If I can learn to love it so can anybody
Comedian Chris Addison has written about the virtues of opera, and misconceptions around its fanbase.
‘It’s quite hard to argue any music is genuinely inaccessible’
No, opera isn’t elitist. The kids who go to music schools are generally not posh or rich, just talented, committed and from music-loving or aspirational homes. It’s the tabloidisation of culture that has narrowed popular horizons and spread this idea that if you are not rich, opera is not for you, classical is not for you, and jazz is impenetrable music for pseuds. All nonsense.
People like Anthony Burgess, Melvyn Bragg, David Starkey, Ian McKellen are all products of working class/lower middle class aestheticism, and then you have the Welsh singing tradition. Maybe the decline of grammar schools and the post-industrial decline of small towns – which in their heyday would have had thriving concert, theatre and am-dram scenes – has something to do with the renewal of this Edwardian idea that arts are not for popular consumption? But in the age of radio, TV, Amazon and Spotify it’s quite hard to argue any music is genuinely inaccessible unless you want it to be, or just don’t like it.
SavannahLaMar
It’s beer, but not as we know it: scientists dispense with need for hops
DNA from mint and basil plants has helped scientists develop a new “beer”. You were thirsty for conversation – and this reader with a family history had plenty to say.
‘English hop growing is having a renaissance right now’
My father was a hop grower in Kent and I still have one cousin growing hops. This article is highly misleading. In the USA (maybe in France as well) hops are grown mostly with irrigation and so use a lot of water. But not in England, so the amount of water used to grow English hops is almost zero. Some English growers are now starting to use a bit of irrigation, but tiny amounts as it is just to top up soil water in a dry spring.
English hop growing is having a renaissance right now, due to micro-brewing and interest in craft beers. For the first time in decades farmers, like my cousin, have been making decent money from their hops (to put this in focus, they have put off improving their tiny farmhouse for 30 years). English farmers are now selecting new varieties focusing on aroma, rather than yield, the whole English hop industry (less than 100 farms) is looking up.
agricpractitioner
Comments have been edited for length. This article will be updated throughout the day with some of the most interesting ways readers have been participating across the site.
