Hi everybody it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft thank you for watching my tutorial today. So as promised here is the stand and pop card without using any specific dies so you will all be able to make this and it's a really fun card.  Now this was my prototype this was the one I was actually making alongside the one that I shared on Monday so if anybody hasn't seen Mondays that was using a beautiful clock die and I'll link that one up here and I was doing thinking of ways to use that and when I started doing it I thought oh let's just try it so like I said I was playing around and this is what I've done so the size of this is a bit bizarre it's six by five which is not really a size that I would do because I had to cut a few bits just to kind of play around with it but you can see when it comes down how this looks and then this back piece I actually really like this one so it's like a little page so when you open it you have a place to write your message but also that now becomes a stand and what it will do is it will keep the card perfectly upright in a 45 degree angle okay and it just I put it on the mantle downstairs just to kind of stand and look at it and I was again I just loved it I'd bring it up closer I've done all this decoration I'll show you the collection that I've used in a moment and I just think it's a really fun happy card and this would work for so many occasions it would make a lovely actual cake tier you could have it as a wedding card any you know masculine theme cards you just have to change the papers but you can certainly go to town with this and I'll talk you through all of that it's nice and easy to make I think it's got a great profile and I'm really pleased with this one so I hope you enjoy the tutorial and let's get straight into it okay so this is the paper pad I'm using it's a old dovecraft one and there was all the you know the embellishments and everything to go with it and it's called make a wish but I know there's still places online where you can get this so I'll share any links below but you can see all the lovely patterns and the things that I love about dovecraft papers is they are they always have elements that you can firstly cut and I love that or you can pop them through your scanner cut and you know they can cut them for you but I've cut the the party hats I've cut the cakes I've cut the presents but then you've also got balloons there you've got you know your sundae and your ice cream and you've got cocktails as well it's a really fun moment and then some great background papers so what I've chosen here is I've actually gone for the same papers but I've gone for a brighter colour and I think a better size because this one will now fit into a five by seven envelope so yeah so I've gone ahead and just fussy cut all these pieces I'm going to show you how to make these tiny little tassels they're super cute and these ones I've used the holographic the dovecraft holographic card and I just think that's going to add some lovely sparkle so we'll talk through all those and we'll talk through the back pieces the mats and layers all of keep all the blue bits I know they're the bits that are the first bits we use so we'll crack on with them first okay so first of all for the back you want a piece of seven by four and a half then for the front you want a piece that is nine by four and a half for the pop-out piece on the front you want a piece that is six and a quarter by three this piece is going to go on the very front and this is five by two so that's the full width of the card and then this little piece is to be honest you may not find you need it but it's just like an extra support here it will I guess it yeah you will need it because it will stop this bit kind of fanning out and maybe sliding so yeah this piece is three by one this piece you want to score along the three inch side at half an inch and two and a half and then this piece should have the scoring before this is the six and a quarter by three along the six and a quarter side you want to score a quarter of an inch five and a quarter that piece is no scoring and then this piece which is that four and a half by nine yeah you want to score at one inch and three in fact I'd flip it over and score the three again because you're going to fold the three so it's a valley and then that first one so it's a mountain so it's like that okay then for the mats and layers I'll talk through those in a bit because we don't need to use the scoreboard anymore and that will make more sense when we stick it all together okay I just started putting glue on that piece and you don't you just want to put your glue on this piece here okay because you don't want to go all the way down to the bottom just like so and then I'm just going to rub this bottom bit away and then I'm just going to stick this one on to the back of this one line it up like so and then that piece will overhang at the bottom and it will line up so you'll have a one inch overhang here which will sit perfectly with this one inch fold there okay then we want this piece here which we're going to sit over the top there so this white mat is a piece of four and a quarter by five and three quarters and then the pattern paper is four by five and a half so again I'm just going to add my glue just to the back of that panel then I've got this piece which is going to go in here this is optional but you can see it there it's just a little bit more detail if you want but again entirely up to you and this is a piece of one and three quarters by four and a quarter that's the white piece and the pattern piece is one and a half by four so again I'm going to stick that one down then we want this piece here so just fold and burnish all the score lines so they're all mountain folds so it will be like that the little quarter inch piece okay and then before you stick it down it's just a little bit easier this piece here I'll give you the measurements for it's just to mat that square you may want to stamp on this you may do a nice coloured stamped image or fussy cut and die cut something but I'm just going to be sticking all of that you know lovely decoration there so I'm just sticking that in the middle and this one was two and three quarters by three and three quarters now we can start sticking this one down so the end where you've just got the one inch piece okay not this one here we'll do that last you just want to add some glue like so and you're going to pop this so it butts right up to that score line but make sure you've got it nice and you know in the middle of this this piece here so I'm just going to lay that down about there we're going to wiggle it around a bit if you just fold the whole thing over you'll be able to also see there if you've got it lined up probably go across to the right just a little bit and just flip the whole thing over and it's just easier for you to be able to just push down on that and make sure you get it all secure so I'm just going to spend a minute doing that okay while that's drying I've just got this piece just fold over the tabs so they're both mounting folds like this and you want to add glue onto both of them okay and then what you're going to do is turn it up so this runs flat with the bottom of it will be flat with the bottom of the card you want to stick it onto this piece so it runs flush with the bottom if you light down keeping that nice folded piece running flat along there again if I just bring it up it's right at the bottom of the card there okay fold the whole thing up and just fold that down it will meet up with it perfectly so you can just sit here now and just push down on everything making sure that's all secure and then again while we're still there you want to add glue onto this whole area just that that one inch section okay and then this piece you want to sit so the bottom of this runs with the bottom of that piece but you will have a quarter of an inch overhanging on each side but you want it to be flat with the top with that bit but it overhangs and we're creating this piece here because you see I've got all that overhanging here above that one inch piece but it is flush with the bottom again just spend a minute now just making sure everything is stuck down okay then I've got this piece which is going to decorate this here and this measures one and three quarters by four and three quarters for the white piece and the pattern is one and a half by four and a half so again I'm just going to stick that one down okay and now you pull down that piece and that's what you should have so this is that bit that overhangs but it's running flush with the bottom there and then all we've got left to do is pop some glue on that quarter inch tab fold it right over so it's flat and fold the card back up again into that position into its flat position and now that whole piece will fit into a five by seven envelope because this is your you know your kind of width the widest part is this piece here but what it also means is when you decorate and have things overhanging they can overhang up to the width of this because if you see on this one when it all folds flat see I've got all these bits overhanging so that's why you cut the that's why you cut the back piece in slightly to the actual width of the envelope that you want and it just then allows you to be able to have that space to decorate so again I'm just going to make sure that all sticks down so I'm going to flip it over and work on the back for a minute so to be honest I was thinking about it and I thought you don't really need to have this piece as well as this but then some of you might because the idea is is that this is going to stick on there and then I'm having this decorative piece like so so it's up to you I don't know whether some of you might want to skip this piece but I'll give you the measurements in a second but this one I'm going to lay down festival it's a very very strong card I'm using heavyweight cardstock and I'm using the cloud so the whole thing is is yeah it's just incredibly strong so this one you want the bottom the white piece to go flat with the bottom okay so the measurement that I've given will you know give you a nice border on three sides but you want it to be flush with the bottom so it's four and a quarter I think it was five and yeah six and seven eighths of an inch and then you want another piece that's the same but along the four and a quarter you want to score it two and one eighth of an inch right down through the middle stamp it on the left hand side fold it up so it's like a book okay and then you're going to add glue all to the back of the side where you've stamped and like I said this is going to be your stand and then this will sit perfectly over that white piece and it will run flush with the bottom okay so it's very neat and I'm just going to fold that right over and then this piece here again nice and decorative this is one and three quarters by six and five eighths and then the pattern paper is one and a half by six and three eighths and again this one you do want it to have a nice border on all four sides that's why it's slightly funny measurements on the back piece just because I just thought it looked odd having the white piece that I laid down first here to have a border on all four sides and then the stand to come down and you have a bit of I just thought it again I'm always looking at things on how they finally finish and I'm very much about the things looking pleasing to the eye and that just didn't work for me so that's why I thought it's best if it goes completely flat with the bottom but now you can see you've got your stand now if you want to decorate that more you can I may well add some more paper to that I've got a few scraps now okay sorry I just had to stop the video so now when I pull up the side you'll see there it looks really cool so then you just position your stand and the thing I like about this is it easy for someone to understand when they get this out of an envelope because that's just going to come down they're going to do that naturally and then they'll see this and and work out that that's obviously part of the stand but now hey so then we need to decorate so I'll just talk you through how you make these little tassels you just want a piece of one and a quarter squared card and then I've just got my snips and I'm just cutting down very thin amounts I do have the vegetable scissors but there is it's too thick the strips I want nice thin ones so I'm just going along here with my snips and just creating lots of little strips tassels like so and then I'm just going to curl it slightly like that and then I'm just going to start rolling it so just like you would they are just little tassels but I think they're so cute just roll and roll and roll and then when you get to the end so just roll it up there I'm just going to pop a little bead of glue and then just roll that around don't burn yourself and then what I started to do is just kind of like fan it out a little bit because you'll find you'll be able to manipulate that card and then I'm just going to cut off that hot glue now that's set just because it was the oozy and then what I done is I just got the end of my bone folded just kind of squashed it because you don't want this to add a huge amount of bulk I mean the card's got a bit of bulk to it anyway but just kind of flatten the the knot but then just kind of spread it out a little bit like so that's what I've done with those so now they're ready to stick on the card so I have gone and cut two of the presents and then one of the cake and the cake I've put them all on foam actually the presents on the cake so I'm just going to take the backing off of those and I'm just going to have it about there nice and centered and then the presents I've already put some foam just on one side because this is going to overhang so I don't want anything sticky so I'm going to pop that one there and then this one on the other side that's got a bit of foam overhang in there I'll have to when you have that see I've got the foam overhanging I'm just going to use some of my anti-static powder and just rub it on the back of that and then it won't stick then these ones here I've got kind of poking out from the top so I'm just going to pop a bit of glue there and just slide that one in where did I have it like like that there we go and then again this one here then the happy birthday is from the new stamp set that I shared in my what did I get I absolutely love it and I've already started using some of the other ones and it's just this one here and then I just went and fussy cut it just kind of following the the flow of the letters and yeah just so it looked quite nice so again I've gone and popped some foam on the back like so and then this one is going to sit in the middle there like so and then I just need to stick these down so I've got two that are going to come out from behind the front piece so I'm just going to pop a little bit of hot glue and I'm going to have one there and once they're completely secure I will found them out a little bit more as well and then I'm going to have another one just there and then just again just kind of pull them you can be a bit more tough with them because they're secure now I don't want to pull on them I'm just prizing them apart and there you have it I am so pleased with this I think it looks absolutely adorable it's such a lovely looking card and I don't think there's going to be anybody that you give that to that won't enjoy this it's just it it doesn't take long to do and I think that's a nice thing because when someone gets this you know you can spend a long time on it by all means you may be doing a lot of coloring and like I said in going you could do a beautiful bouquet you know and lots of detail and flowers but you don't have to do an awful lot for it to still look pretty spectacular and I think this is in it I think it is it's I think it's a bit of a showstopper card I might put it in the showstopper album because if anybody likes those big kind of grand cards then head over I'll pop that up here actually it's a really good playlist with bigger cards so again like I say always for those special birthdays but this would look great with a big number in the center there so I love it oh I am can you be in love with a card I'm in love with a card I love it anyway you know I get really excited so there you have it I hope you've enjoyed this version using no dies and I'll be looking out for your versions over on the mixed up crafters facebook page so thank you for watching and I'll be back again soon with another tutorial bye


Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to become Foreign Secretary, the Telegraph newspaper reported, returning to the political front line after he quit in 2016 when he failed to keep Britain in the European Union, Conservative Cameron, who led the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU, resigned after the country narrowly voted in favour of Brexit in 2016. He was followed by Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss before Sonec took power last year. Sonec sacked his Interior Minister, Salah Braverman, on Monday, a government source said, part of a wider reshuffle after she criticized the police's handling of a pro-Palestinian march, the political editor of the Sone tabloid said Foreign Secretary James Cleverley would replace her.


The main experiment to this video was can a homemade crawfish trap catch crawdad. Oh yeah, we got him. Oh baby. What's up people? So I'm actually inside of Walmart right now and we gotta get some supplies. As you guys can tell, we're in the fishing section right now but we have to get some supplies. What's up man? For some crawfish traps. So pretty much we're gonna be making our own crawfish traps today and then setting them in my woods by this little creek that's behind my house, little hidden creek. So we need to get the supplies while we're here right now but the first thing we need is obviously some bottles. So we're gonna be making it out of some like big two liter bottles or like some big water bottles. That's what we're gonna be using. Also some zip ties, we need that as well. I might need to pick up a few things. We also need some bait to put it inside of it which you can use a few different things but let's go ahead and get over by like the bottles and get our main base of the trap. So this is actually what we're gonna be getting right here for one of the main traps. I think we're gonna build two but this is the first trap that I'm gonna get. This is a basic deer park gallon jug and as you guys can tell it's not like this which I'll explain more outside while we're not in Walmart but you don't want the ones that like the handles and you don't want something that's like too slim. So this is perfect for a little cage trap that we can use. Just got the supplies of Walmart, hopped in my truck. I didn't show you guys everything but we're about to head to my house right now since the creek's just right behind it. I'm gonna show you all the supplies, we're gonna build it and then we're gonna go trap some crawdads. I wasn't gonna film this outside and I wasn't gonna film more in Walmart but one, Walmart had a lot of people this is like a couple days before Christmas. It was packed, it was really hard to film in there. There's people everywhere, I was just like nah, I'm gonna deal with that. I was gonna show you guys when I get home and then I was gonna build this outside but it actually started raining but that is not gonna hinder us today because we're gonna go back there and we're still gonna put this old trap in the creek and catch some crawfish. Let me at least show you the supplies that we got. So for the water bottle, I got this Deer Park bottle right here. As you guys can tell, it's just like a perfect shape right here on the sides. It's not like a regular gallon jug where it has the handle. You don't want that because we're gonna actually cut this and put it inside out so it lays flat. So this is actually perfect for a little basic trap that we're gonna build today.  That'll work as well but for this one I'm gonna use this as perfect for the trap. Has a lot of space inside. I think it's gonna work really well. The next thing that you're gonna need is obviously some zip ties. We're gonna need these. I don't know how much. This is a 20 count pack. These were literally like 80 cents. This thing was like a dollar. So you got $2 right there. And then next, we obviously needed some bait. I went with hot dogs. When I was younger, we used to set up crawfish traps in the creek. Actually this creek, but not back where we're gonna set it today. This is a whole different area. I've never done it before. We're gonna be using hot dogs. You can use dog food. You can use like chopped bait, fish guts, whatever you want to use. Dog food, cat food, anything works. I'm just gonna use hot dogs today. They're pretty smelly and I think it's gonna get the job done. And then lastly, the last thing that I got was some rope right here. This is probably the most expensive thing. This is like literally 86 cents. So you got $3 for the whole trap. And then I did get some rope. I believe I already have some in my garage but I just bought some just in case so I don't get home and I'm like, crap, I don't have any rope. So that's what we're needing. Those are the four requirements for this. Water jug, bait, zip ties, and some type of rope so I can pull this thing back in. I don't know if this is really the best one because the thing is it doesn't come up much. I kind of want it more at an angle but I did notice something on the bottom which is more caved in as you guys can tell right there and there's a little circle piece. So what I want to do with this trap, which if I do it this way, I won't even need the zip ties or anything. Like this would make it even easier but if this works then you can actually go get the deer park one and make it super simple. So usually what I would do, and by the way this is not my idea, I took reference from this offline, is I would cut right here around this whole thing and then I would flip this inside out so this is facing inside and the crawfish would just crawl right up in. But actually it's made like a perfect little hole down there. So if I just cut this out, the crawfish could crawl right up in here and then boom, they're inside the trap. First thing I would like to say, you need a pretty sharp knife for this, at least I do for cutting this bottom. If you guys are younger, make sure you get your parents nearby or something to help you out if you need to.  So I'm gonna cut the center piece out so it leaves a little passageway for the crawfish to crawl right in. I just got this end piece cut out. This is like the thickest plastic. I mean, it's like, that was hard to cut out, not gonna lie, I didn't have this knife which is super sharp, I probably wouldn't be able to do it. So I just cut that out so as you guys can tell, it's like it's pushed in. This is kind of like what I was talking about as in the front. So if I slice this off, I put it reverse to where this is pretty much like the bottle cap to where they crawl in. I think this one works perfect. So if you guys want to go figure out which is the best bottle, I would say the Deer Park one. That is just very hard to cut. So this is gonna be a perfect little passageway for the crayfish to crawl right up in here.  So I'm just gonna cut a little rectangle right here to make a door and then we'll use one of these zip ties to zip tie a shut. Perfect right there.  I'm gonna make a little slit just like that.  I wanna stick this rope through. What makes this so perfect is I can bring it back through the trap door right here. And what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna make a few simple knots so this thing can go back through. Ooh, there we go. So now we got it on our little rope. We're gonna be able to place this thing down in the water and when we're ready to retrieve it to see if we have some crawfish in there, it's gonna be perfect to where I can pull it right back up. All right everybody, we're deep in the woods right now. We got our hot dogs. We got our trap. We do need to find some rocks but I think we're gonna be able to find those right here when we get down to this creek. I am super excited about this. If you guys wanna see some more videos like this, pepper that like button up. Let me know in the comment section below and we'll be sure to make some more but we're gonna start working our way back in this woods. It's very grown up and it's hard to get through. So it's gonna take me a second to get through with all this stuff but man, I'm excited. Here's part of the creek right here. I don't know if you guys saw one of my last vlogs but I came back here and this is more of the shallow end and it goes all the way down and then there's some rocks and where the current is really flowing really hard down here and that's where we're gonna be setting this old trap right here is way back here. So we have to get through all of this right here. It's gonna be pretty painful with all these briars but we gotta risk it for the biscuit, risk it for the video for you guys. The first thing we need to grab is some little pebbles so we can weigh this thing down because obviously, I mean it's just a water bottle.  I almost forgot about that. Probably gonna need to take that off but we need to find some pebbles first and at least weigh this thing down so there's no weight to it and then I think I found the perfect area to put it right over here. There's some rocks all right here. There's some rocks all right there. I think that's gonna be a really good location so we can just walk right down and drop it in but first, we gotta grab our old pebbles. So I'm gonna have to somehow figure out my way down this and grab some of these little rocks down there. I just got us some rocks right here. It is super cold, that water is freezing but we got us a good bit of rocks. I've already threw a few in there.  Obviously it's the lightest water bottle that you could probably get cause there's no water in it. Next step is to grab the old hot dogs. These are like 86 cents of Walmart. We're gonna pile them up in there with all those rocks and then we're gonna set this bad boy in and let it sit for a few hours. Put about three hot dogs. Just broke them up into little pieces with all the rocks in there and there is one thing that I kinda need to do and I think I'm going to do. I'm gonna take my knife and poke some random holes all around this thing. I probably poke like six to seven holes just all around this. Super small obviously.  It would have been easier if I got a little drill just to pop them all in but we'll do it pretty quick with the knife. This is the spot that we're gonna put it right here by all this debris in the water all these little trees. It's got some rocks right there. I also have some rocks down there but I don't have any waterproof boots to really walk all the way down there and it has a good bit of water right here. So either right here or right here is where we're gonna put it. As you guys can tell we got all the hot dogs in there. I actually zip tied it shut, poked a few more holes in it and I think we're good to go. We got all the weight that we need, all the bait that we need and it's gonna be pretty good. We just gotta make sure this thing sits upright and we got it on this long rope that we could toss out there. Here we go. I got it right down there. I think I have her in the perfect spot. Made sure she sat right so all the weight was level. Not all the rocks were in the back or in the front. They were just leveled out so the thing lays flat. That's very important because if they were all to the back crawfish wouldn't be able to crawl in because it's gonna be sitting straight up. So we're gonna let this thing sit here for a few hours. We're gonna see how many crawfish we can get. So I got my rope right here. I actually almost slipped and fell in and I got the crawfish trap right over there right by all these rocks that are right in here. I think it's gonna be a perfect spot. I really wish I could put it over there because that just looks so good but I just can't get over to it. We're gonna at least let this thing sit for a few hours and see if we can catch something. If we can't then we'll just move it to a different location and see if we can get some over there but I think it's gonna be set and good to go. So it's currently one o'clock. We're gonna come back around three o'clock. We're gonna give it a few hours, maybe even a little bit later because I do have some plans tonight for Christmas Day and we're gonna come back and check the trap, see if there's some crawfish in it and hopefully we'll have a good day. If not then we're gonna definitely move it for just starting to rain pretty hard right now. So I'm gonna get out of here rather than not get my camera wet and I guess I'll catch you guys back out here in a few hours. Two hours later. It is time. It has been around three hours or actually two and a half hours. It's 3.30 right now. We stopped the trap at two o'clock so it's been two and a half hours. So we are at two o'clock, one o'clock, one of us is in. So it's been two and a half hours we're ready to go check the trap. I'm excited about this. I hope we have a bunch of crawfish or crawdads in the trap. We made it back here. I haven't seen the trap yet so I don't know, I gotta get down this. I wish I brought a GoPro down here. I could get a little underwater shot. Hopefully there's something in it and it didn't move. Oh yeah, we got them. Oh baby. Look at that.  Looks like we only have two or three but we got one giant one in there. That is a big guy. So we only have two crawdads in there. Maybe three, I couldn't really tell.   I might reposition this in a different location but let's go ahead and get these out. I at least wanna show you them and it's gonna be probably pretty difficult to get them out. I wish I made the hatch on top a little bit bigger.  So the homemade do it yourself crawfish trap works baby, look at that guy. Oh yeah, he's got some freaking pincers on him. He's backing himself in this corner. Here we go. Look at him. Look at that big dude right there. Look at that crawdad. That is a pretty big one right there. Not gonna lie, the guy inside is a lot bigger than this one. Beautiful little crawdad right there. He's all curled up so he doesn't look as big. If you guys are wondering how to grab these things, grab them right behind their pincers. See how I'm grabbing them on the head? Right there on the back so their pincers can't reach around to you. See, he's trying to but if you grab them like that you'll be okay. That is an awesome crawdad right there. We're gonna set this trap back in the water because I am gonna catch some more which I'll explain in a minute.  But that is an awesome little crawdad right there. I don't know if you guys can see that but right there is a absolute giant. I mean a giant crawfish. If he wasn't as far in the water I could grab him but he is gigantic right there. He's got a hot dog under his two claws. He's looking at me like why did you just take my friends? I wanna see if I can get him with this stick. I highly doubt it. He's too deep in the water for me just to grab him. That guy is huge. If we would've gave it a little bit longer I'm sure he would've got trapped too. I can see if I can catch him.  Not gonna lie. Oh I got him. I got him pinned down. Oh don't run away.  Dang it man that was a big one. There's no way I was gonna be able to get that. We're gonna load the trap back up though and put it back in here. I do wanna grab these little hot dogs that fill out because I don't want them to be eating this instead of the ones that I put in there. So far the homemade trap is working. It works perfect. It really wasn't sitting out here too long so I wasn't expecting too many. I'm just glad that we caught a few. Could've caught three or four cause I still see some laying down there. But we're gonna lay the trap back in and I'm gonna explain why here in a moment once we get away from this water because I know it's kinda loud. But I'm gonna load it back up with some of the hot dogs and put some new ones back in there. And then we're gonna drop it back in the water maybe in a different location and we're gonna come back tomorrow. But I will explain that here in a minute. Break up some more hot dogs. Some of them poured out when I was bringing it back. Pretty much what I'm doing is I'm breaking this into like four pieces maybe five about that size and putting it in there. I'm gonna just put two more in there just to get that more, that synths out there cause that's how it attracts them. It's a strong smell of these hot dogs. Meats like this, also like choppies, cat food, dog food like I was talking about earlier. Just has that super strong scent for this crayfish to attract to. We got our trap. We got to load it up with some more water so it's even. And lay our trap right down in there. That's a little good position. Just made it back to the house. I thought I would inform you guys. I don't know if I said two or three. There was three crawdads in there. There was one more under the rocks so it was about the size of the one I pulled out. So there was two about the size of the one I pulled out and then there was one just huge one. I didn't want to take them all out because I had to cut the zip tie and I didn't have another zip tie with me so I had to come all the way back and do that whole deal. I was like, no, I don't even want to mess with that. I'm actually going to be coming back tomorrow morning and checking them to see how many are in there which I'm kind of excited because in two hours there was three in there so hopefully by the morning I at least have 10 crawdads in there if it can fit that many cause it is a little bit smaller. But the main experiment to this video was can a homemade crawfish trap catch crawdads and that is a yes, it worked. Within two hours we had three crawdads in there which doesn't seem like much but if we really give it some more time they will pile up in there and it seems to have worked right. The one thing that I am worried about is the hot dogs that were in there cause some of them fell out. For the main purpose of this video is we are actually going to go back tomorrow morning check the crawdads and then we're going to go fishing with them. So that's going to be in the next episode. So if you guys haven't subscribed already be sure to hit the subscribe button also hit the notification bell right next to it so it sends you a post notification after every single upload. Thank you guys so much for the support. I hope you guys enjoyed this video let me know if you guys want to see some more like this and if you enjoyed it leave your thoughts in the comment section and if you guys know a lot about catching crawdads and you'd like to inform me on some information because I haven't done this in like 10 years so I really don't know too much information about it be sure to leave your knowledge below so I could probably take some in and then use some of your tips in the next video but thank you guys so much for the support I love you guys so much and I'll catch you guys at tomorrow's video.


dystopian time. The first thing that I want to talk about is the Line 3 pipeline that is making some headlines recently. The first thing that I want to show us is a video from Democracy Now. For those of you who haven't kept up, this is just a really brief explainer video, but it's really, really informative. Heelscourt has denied an appeal aimed at halting construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline in northern Minnesota. In a two-to-one ruling, the court upheld Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's approval of the 340-mile-long pipeline. More than 700 people have been arrested since June in indigenous-led protests against the pipeline. Indigenous lawyer Tara Houska of the Ginu Collective condemned Tuesday's ruling. Today's ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court is yet another example of Minnesota not responding to the climate crisis, not respecting indigenous sovereignty, and continuing to ignore what's happening in real time all around us with smoky skies, the world burning, the rivers and drought, and water protectors being brutalized by police that are being paid by Enbridge. And one thing that I want to add to that is Roots Action is showing some really great videos of the footage from the protests. You see people marching, I believe, like thousands of people here, and now the situation has come to this where a lot of people, including many lawmakers, progressive lawmakers, are exerting pressure on the Biden administration to halt the construction of the Line 3 pipeline. This is also from Democracy Now, and I just want to read this real quick before I take it to the panel. So more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Biden to halt construction on the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota until a thorough environmental review is undertaken. Meanwhile, indigenous leaders Winona Laduk and Tara Huska met with UN Special Rapporteur I haven't said that word out loud in like years on human rights defenders last week to share the police violence suffered by water protectors at the Line 3 construction site. Activists say law enforcement ramped up their brutal attacks last week, dislocating one person's jaw, but land and water defenders say they will continue their resistance repertoire, I think it's going to bug me. So basically this feels like a repeat of history a couple of years ago towards the end of 2016, we saw the same thing with the Dakota Access Pipeline where we had this private military slash police force that was brutalizing protesters, literally sickening dogs on peaceful protesters. And really we got word from the Obama administration that he would just kind of wait to see how everything happens and we're in the same situation essentially now where we're hoping that the Biden administration takes action. He hasn't necessarily spoken much about this if at all. And he's not really reacting to pressure and it just feels a little bit surreal to still be talking about the construction of new pipelines in 2021 after the IPCC just told us that we're basically fucked when it comes to climate change. So Mac, you've talked a lot about the Line 3 pipeline. What are your thoughts on this situation? Yeah, I mean, this is just one of those examples. I feel like where Biden, you know, he'll go out there and he'll make speeches where he's paying lip service to how he cares about addressing climate change. And then you just see him go radio silent on something like this.  Like you said, I mean, we've seen this game play out before.   Yeah. And it's frustrating because, you know, there's only, I think the article said it was like 40 lawmakers or so.  They should be exerting pressure on the Biden administration because this is again, like not only is it egregious because of the lack of proper environmental review, but we're not respecting indigenous rights. I mean, we've seen throughout history, the United States government isn't honoring treaties with indigenous peoples. And it's just it's it just feels like history is repeating itself. Dylan, what's your take on this? Generally, my take is that first off, I would like to say that I support anybody engaging in direct action on the ground right now. Physically going out there and putting yourself in the way of police batons, pepper spray, police dogs, all of this takes an enormous amount of bravery. And you're putting your body at an extreme risk to do this. So I just want to give like a direct like round of applause to the people who are actually putting themselves on the ground to do it. Because if it wasn't for that, then the Dakota access pipeline would have been a non issue for most people, because the media wasn't good. We didn't cover it until the violence against protesters started. And it was very clearly that the local community did not want that to go through the same thing is true here, that the media didn't cover this until people put themselves in between the profit motive and their local community. That is when people started to cover this. So the first thing all compliments need to go to them. The second thing is this should be rallying cry for people trying to push on climate change and trying to fight climate change. Right now, Biden has the opportunity to go after this, to go after this issue. He did the same thing he proved that he can do it. He did it with Dakota on the first day in office. We saw him do this. So it's not like he doesn't have the ability or he doesn't have the political leanings to do it. He has the ability to do it. So for me, I think it's merely a conversation of how are we going to pressure Democrats into doing this? Because the Republicans are a lost cause on this one. There's no way in hell we're going to get Republicans to be able to care about indigenous people's rights, the Republican Party, or about the environmental impacts that this could have.  A lot of these are just give it larger environmental review. And if that itself cannot even be met, then I don't know what could possibly meant. Just literally a question of having a conversation with the community, because it feels like if you can't even put in the effort to put in the larger scale environmental review on a project of this size, then it feels like you don't even want to have the conversation with the community. It sounds like you don't really care about what the community thinks. So you shouldn't be surprised when the community comes out in force and stops you from doing your project. Yeah, I wanted to, great points, by the way, Dylan. I wanted to ask, Farron, because you oftentimes cover a lot of legal issues and whatnot. And a lot of what we're seeing with the Biden administration, what's being greenlit, and a lot of the continuation of the projects from the Trump era is all the result of Attorney General Merritt Garland. Do you know who in the Biden administration is pulling the strings here? Because it feels weird when Biden came into office, I was giving him credit for cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline, being to the left of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. But now we see basically an action on line three. And what do you think is the underlying motivations here for the Biden administration? I think they do things when they think they're going to get a lot of good reaction from it. They looked out over the country. They saw the opposition to Dakota. They saw the opposition to Keystone. So they understood by doing this, we're going to make a lot of people happy. We're going to get some good publicity in these early days. We're going to get some progressive street cred. But line three, nobody knows what that is. There's been no coverage of this. Yes, we know about it. We've talked about it. But outside of these small circles, most people aren't familiar with this. This is not an issue that has been as well covered, I guess, as it should be. So they don't see, I'm assuming, and I don't think they see any benefit to it right now. So as Dylan pointed out, we have to make this a bigger issue. We have to make sure that we continue talking about it. It's the same thing that we did with the Keystone XL pipeline. I mean, I was writing for Dismog blog about the problems with Keystone all the way back in 2010. And back then people, well, what is this thing? What's it about? It took a long time. And unfortunately, as we know from the IPCC report, we don't have that kind of time. So these lawsuits are great. And honestly, legally speaking, it is kind of shocking that this Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in the way they did. Because if a proper environmental review was not done legally speaking, the project should not be allowed to go forward. So that kind of blows my mind. We just saw a project in Alaska last week put on ice because they did not do a proper environmental review. So we're seeing progress in some areas. We're seeing nothing in other areas. And what concerns me about it is that's what we saw with Obama. We had really great action in some arenas when it comes to environmental protection, emissions, the Mercury and air toxic standards act was wonderful. And then we increased offshore drilling to a level never seen before in this country. Domestic oil production was booming, fracking was exploding. So good and bad negates progress. And we're in a position, we can't negate progress. Now, we have to be moving forward, especially after four years of moving backwards. So if it's a whole publicity thing, they don't know that enough people care about Enbridge to actually do something about it, then it is up to us to make a big fuss about it to publicize this and to make sure everybody knows what this is and why it's such a bad idea.


Good afternoon everybody, my name is Michael Collins and I'm the Director General of the Institute of International and European Affairs And I'm very pleased to welcome you all to this latest IIEA webinar And we're absolutely delighted this afternoon to be joined by Tony Connolly RTE Europe editor who's been generous enough to take time out of his schedule to speak to us to talk to us on Subject matter of Brexit Tony will speak to us for about 20 minutes or so and then we will go to our usual Q&A With you our participants and you'll be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom Which you should see on your screen Please be free to send your questions throughout the session or indeed when Tony has finished speaking And we will come to them then in the Q&A part of our event. I Reminder that today's presentation is on the record while the Q&A is off the record under chat and house rule and Please feel free to join the discussion on Twitter using the handle at IIEA Tony Connolly is well known to all of us. I think he's an award-winning journalist and author as Europe editor For RT news. He has been covering Europe European EU And European affairs from Brussels now for almost 20 years Since 2001 and he's reported extensively on the period before and during and after the brings a referendum and Before that covered the European refugee crisis that we debt crisis the Irish bailout and financial crisis dating back to 2008 so he's a man pretty familiar with the whole world of crisis Tony was awarded the outstanding achievement award for journalism at the UCD Spurford Business School for his coverage of key events in Europe in 2018 and he's written for numerous national and international Publications and news agencies and his most recent book Brexit in Ireland the dangers the opportunities and the inside story of the Irish response was published in October 2017 so with that I'm going to hand over to Tony and look forward to his presentation And just again to extend a very warm welcome back to him to the IIEA. So 20 floors yours Thank you very much Michael and good afternoon everybody. So we are at a very intriguing moment in the Brexit negotiations we've had a very strange period of six months when Brexit Formally happened at the end of January 31st of January Both sides drew up their negotiating mandates in February and then the negotiations got underway Proper at the beginning of March But then the global pandemic struck and that has had a huge impact on the logistics of having the negotiations and Also on the politics of whether or not the UK should seek an extension to the transition period To accommodate the disruption that the pandemic has caused in the event. We've had Four rounds of negotiations. One of them was face-to-face at the beginning of March, but then the others have been virtual meetings of the negotiating teams by video conference and of course that has had its own problems and limitations just in terms of the technology and the logistics around that but more importantly it Took away the very valuable face-to-face nuanced part of the negotiation process and diplomacy where people can start to scope out the room for maneuver when they talk in corridors or have a coffee or do that Informal side of the process sometimes the non-verbal side of the process, but all of that was not possible during the pandemic So unsurprisingly the final round of the first half of the negotiations concluded with no rail breakthrough on any of the major issues and there was indeed a fairly downbeat and A assessment of where things were at by both chief negotiators probably more on the EU side With Michelle Barnier complaining in particular that the UK was Retreating from the letter and the spirit of the political declaration, which of course accompanied the withdrawal agreement and sets out the The vision of where the future relationship should should end up And After the break of the after the final round finished There was of course a high-level meeting between Boris Johnson and the three leaders of the main institutions So Ursula von der Leyen of the Commission Cheryl Michelle of the Council and David Sassoli of the European Parliament Interestingly that high-level format was dreamed up by one Theresa May We all remember her because she was worried that after Brexit and after the UK left the EU formerly there wouldn't be a forum or a platform for a UK Prime Minister to meet the senior principles of the European institutions. So and That meeting took place Monday week ago and it was really quite a sober Event again. It was done virtually and it was it was really a stock-taking exercise with both sides Acknowledging that there hadn't been any real breakthrough and that things were not looking good but I would Qualify that fairly quickly by saying that And to a surprising degree in my view. There was a degree of optimism On the EU side, which I was not personally expecting and that was because Both sides recommitted strongly to getting a deal this year So it's clearly in in the interests of both sides to get an agreement Boris Johnson recommitted himself to the political declaration. Although again, he said it's it's not legally binding It's only a framework and the EU side said that while they believe that their mandate that they've given Michelle Barnier Shouldn't change at this point that both sides would have to compromise and including the EU side And that was seen as Certainly by me and by other observers of this process that things were not perhaps quite as bad as they had seemed Another thing worth pointing out is that in the UK's negotiating mandate. They said that if things were not going Well by June the UK would walk away from the process and start Preparing for an outcome which would mean no trade deal by the end of the year now that clearly hasn't happened So again, that's given some people signs of encouragement and in the run-up to the high-level conference And after the failure of the initial rounds the UK were pushing for an accelerated negotiating process and possibly even a Tunnel now for those of you who aren't familiar with this terminology the tunnel is where both sides get into a very intensive Highly hermetically sealed environment where they can thrash out an agreement Without necessarily having to brief their own constituencies every day or every other day and without any media leaks in the process which would lend the process a sense of Success or give it a better chance of success This happens, of course in the withdrawal agreement last October, but It's felt here in Brussels that that was somewhat detrimental to the UK side certainly more so than to the EU side in the event There was a tunnel an agreement was done by the end of October, but Boris Johnson had to accept a Sitch a solution to the Irish question Which was quite similar to that presented by the European Commission in February of 2018 Which was you know widely and robustly rejected by Theresa May and and everybody else in the British establishment So I think Boris Johnson paid a price for the the tunnel action of last year and so in recent weeks you've heard British sources and politicians like Penny Mordent of the Cabinet Office Saying that we should get into a much more intense phase of negotiations in July so that the UK would not be stuck then in another tunnel situation at the last minute because if you're in a tunnel it's And the clock is ticking. It's very hard to have a wholesale Rewriting of a legal text. So you tend to have to go for something That's off the shelf and that would tend to favour the EU side in these negotiations So the feeling in Brussels was that there was no way that we would get into a tunnel at that point in July Mainly because the German presidency is taking over on the 1st of July and German presidency wants to exclusively concentrate on the multi-annual financial framework in other words the seven-year EU budget and of course the Coronavirus recovery fund so that's going to take up all of the EU's energies and attention in July And then after the break in August, that's the time when things would Get into that intense high gear Moment of a tunnel September October and also there was a feeling on the EU side that the UK would have to move On some of its red lines before they would get into a tunnel and in the first part of the negotiations There didn't seem to be any real evidence that that was the case certainly from from the EU side But both sides did Even though there was no tunnel set up both sides did agree to a different kind of intense intensification of The negotiations and that intensification will start on Monday. So this is a good time to be looking ahead to that And and what they've done is of course first thing to note is that this is going to be a these are going to be a face-to-face Meetings, that's not going to be virtual anymore And they've reduced the numbers of negotiators to smaller groups In the hope that they can work more productively because during the lockdown we had a Situation where there was a hundred negotiators on one side and a hundred on the other So that they've broken it down to smaller groups and on Monday a Little fewer than two dozen British officials will come over to Brussels. They'll go into the Berlin mall They'll probably be a certain protocol in terms of some sanitation and sanitization But they will get together and they're trying to create a Process whereby the two principles Michel Barnier on the EU side and David Frost on the UK side and Have a much more direct input Into this into these technical negotiations between smaller teams of negotiators and the reason for that is they're trying to scope out what are the margins for maneuver on each other's positions and if Barney and Frost are Looking over their shoulders the shoulders at that point It gives the process a bit of political cover And it means that both sides can move more quickly if they believe that pretty political cover Is there so the feeling here in Brussels is that next week will be critical It's kind of a pilot week if you like they're trying this new process out and if by the end of the week there's a good atmosphere and that's You know without both sides necessarily caving on their red lines If there is sign a sign that both sides are able to start to look at those margins for maneuver And the atmosphere is good and that will determine how the other four weeks of this new process Will unfold and of course the corollary of that is that if things are not looking good by the end of this week And both sides are kind of sticking to their Rhetorical red lines then that doesn't look good at all for the process So what are the main sticking points will of course they've been boiled down to Four key problem areas one is of course the level playing field and that includes state aid The second one is fisheries a very important subject for Ireland The third is police and judicial cooperation And criminal justice and the fourth is governance in other words How do you solve disputes in the future between both sides? What role will international arbitration have what will the dispute resolution mechanisms look like? What role will the European Court of Justice have and these are the four areas that have proved Simply unsolvable in the first part of the negotiations To put it simply of course the UK believes that the EU is asking it to Bind itself to EU regulations in perpetuity that the EU is asking it to sign up to obligations that the EU didn't impose on countries like Japan South Korea and Canada in recent free trade agreements and that's especially on state aid where The EU's negotiating mandate spells out that the UK would have to follow EU rules Be subject to the European Court of Justice when it comes to state aid And the UK is saying this is simply an affront to their newfound sovereignty and and to democracy itself The EU's I suppose understanding of the level playing field is that Of course, and we've heard this said many times the UK is not like Japan or Canada or South Korea in terms of its size In terms of its geographical proximity to the EU So therefore there has to be a much more robust Level playing field agreement between both sides and I was level playing field mean in simple terms the EU doesn't want the UK to be under cutting European companies by deregulating industries with a kind of a risk to the bottom the political declaration commits both sides to to staying at the level of The same standards when it comes to Labour law when it comes to social protection when it comes to the environment climate change and taxation in other words At the end of the transition the UK would promise not to lower its standards from the position that it's in and of course The position that it's in at the end of the transition will be that which has been determined by EU law And the EU even would would like a situation where both sides can every couple of years Agree to increase its stand and increase their standards raise their standards Accordingly, but of course the UK believes that it shouldn't have to follow EU standards or rules that its own standards and rules will be absolutely fine And there shouldn't be a problem Now that those are one set of issues that the EU is very concerned about They don't want to be undercut by British companies However, the issue regarding stated is is a much more fundamental one and this is probably going to be the hardest not to crack Promising that you don't lower your standards below a certain threshold when it comes to Labour law when it comes to social rights And so on is one thing but Committing to a regime where you promise as a government as a state not to step in and intervene in the economy To the benefit of one sector or one particular company That would give you a competitive edge over the EU or vice versa That's a much more tricky thing because it does encroach into The sense of sovereignty the sense that the state can do what it likes When it comes to managing its own economy and of course in the pandemic Governments across the world and in particular in the EU have been stepping in right left and centre to Intervene to Baylor sectors to Baylor companies that were threatened by the pandemic And so you could say that well How can both sides sign up to something when something like this happens when a pandemic comes along? but that Ironically is the very reason why the EU wants to have something that is understood by both sides So that when there is a shock that comes along Even if it's an asymmetric shock at least both sides will know what are the principles that they've both signed up to and How have those principles been codified in a treaty? So to explain the EU's position on state aid They want something that is long-lasting that is Clear and understandable by both sides That will be driven by a set of principles that the both sides sign up to and as I said will be Translated into a set of rules that that kind of work that people know Exactly how they will work and the UK's preference is to To go for the World Trade Organization Mechanisms which they say are robust enough to Protect against any rigging of the system by a government by the UK government stepping into bailout Certain companies or sectors the UK is very fond of reminding everybody that they are one of the Least offending member states when it comes to state aid infringement proceedings Germany and France are much more egregious in their flooding of state aid rules So therefore why should the UK not be trusted to? Be reasonable and to follow a certain pathway when it comes to to state aid But the the EU doesn't buy that for the moment and in recent days. We've had some signals from London Which have been somewhat Contradicted by David Frost in a Twitter feed yesterday This idea that both sides would sign up to an understanding on state aid and level playing field But if the UK felt the need to diverge from that particular Pathway, then they would take the pain in terms of tariffs that the EU would impose on on a particular sector that the UK has been Bailing out and now when you talk to officials here in Brussels about this particular idea We quickly get into this notion of of a marriage so the UK is almost saying well, yes, I'll marry you but I want the Possibility to sleep around from time to time and if I do sleep around and get caught Then I don't mind if you put me on the couch for a few days or if you kick me out and throw my guitar at the window That's fine by me. And so it's almost like they're pricing in What that divergence Would would allow them that they could diverge where it suits them and then pay the penalty by way of tariffs And the EU's approach to this is entirely different. They want something as I say that is long lasting that doesn't end up with a dispute resolution problem every six months and that doesn't get into an escalating tariff war and Privately officials here think that the the UK Understands that and that the UK probably doesn't want that either Which may explain why yesterday David Frost in his Twitter feed denied that the UK wanted to have a license to diverge and then to pay the price through Tariffs that would apply to particular goods or a particular sector and On fisheries briefly Yeah, again, the European Commission has been following the mandate laid down by member states on fisheries in fact When the Commission drew up its draft mandate Fisheries in one area where member states sent the mandate back and said no they want to tougher than what the Commission had Proposed originally so on fisheries the EU wants pretty much the existing quota system to to remain the status quo to continue As it as it has operated in the common fisheries policy. So Effectively the argument is that for decades perhaps centuries European fleets have had access to UK waters and they've enjoyed the ability to catch certain quota of Various species and this again was codified in the common fisheries policy And the EU is saying well We want that to continue because those are historic rights that we've had the UK position is no We're taking back control of our territorial waters. We're going to be an independent coastal state So therefore we're the ones who are going to not control all the quotas in our waters They don't have the capacity to catch all those fish, but that they would be in the driving seat and to Have discretion over who comes in how much quota they get now the approach the UK is taking is instead of relative stability Which is the mechanism Which reflects these historical quota? Share odds they want something called zonal attachment a very technical term I won't get into the details, but essentially it's using deep data To identify where exactly the fish are where they breed where they spawn where they migrate And to cut a long story short that would give the UK more quota than it gets at the moment The UK also wants an annual negotiation with the EU on the share of quotas And the EU is saying absolutely not that's never going to work Britain says well you have an annual negotiation with Norway the EU says well we share seven species with Norway We share over a hundred species with the UK so technically impossible to do an annual quota negotiation for a hundred species and So again, so that's the kind of deadlock there the UK believes it is being reasonable Accepting some quota for european fleets, but not the status quo Michelle Barnier signaled on a few occasions that perhaps Zonal attachment was one criteria they could look at but they'd also have to look at the historical criteria as well I think there was an element there of Both sides inching out of their shells a little bit, but then their constituencies cried fall and Michelle Barnier then had a Apparently fairly difficult meeting with the group of the fishing countries of which Ireland is a member who told them No, you've got to stick to your mandate. This is not the time to be To be compromising on our red lines on fisheries So again, this is another issue that's going to have to come under this new procedure Next week another problem again, of course is police and judicial cooperation I'll be short here. This is a very important area for the EU because if the UK wants to have continued access to crime and Prosecution databases that the EU have there's a there's a cluster of different databases That relate to fingerprints DNA license plates criminal records These fall under different mechanisms like the prune decision and so on the shengen information system and so on and The EU is going to insist that if the UK wants access to some of those mechanisms, they're going to have to Allow European Court of Justice oversight. They're going to have to at least Make sure that the European Court of Human Rights is abided by in every decision and every mechanism that is set up And this is again is causing troubles Finally on governance the fourth of the big outstanding areas The UK wants a straightforward free trade agreement A comprehensive free trade agreement with zero tariff and zero quotas And then they want a sequence of other free standing agreements on aviation for example on fisheries on other aspects of cooperation And they want those to have their own governance regimes or umbrellas The EU on the other hand wants one overarching agreement with one clear governance system that is Clear to everyone and that works and again, you're getting into this kind of fundamental difference of Aspiration if you like the EU wants something that is going to be long lasting clear bound into a treaty that is everybody knows where they stand And does not lead to endless disputes between both sides And the UK wants something a lot a lot looser No rule whatsoever for the European Court of Justice and different governance mechanisms for different standalone agreements that that they're keen on So so those are the big outstanding issues a brief word on the Northern Ireland protocol Which I'm sure we get into in the q&a of course the UK must implement the protocol or else there will be no free trade agreements the two things are very clearly linked by the EU and it's written into the political declaration and indeed the withdrawal agreement And I'm happy to go into more detail on the Northern Ireland protocol over the q&a but that's a sense really of the new The new negotiating session we are our Segment that we're getting into now from next week and a sense of what the key outstanding issues are. Thank you And thank you Tony that's for that comprehensive and timely insight as well I really appreciate it and with lots of questions coming in but maybe just start with one In fact, it's one that I wanted to talk about myself really as well by way of an introductory question And that's the question of trust And I suppose for these negotiations and for most negotiations any negotiations to work There has to be a degree of trust between the two sides and this is a question also echoed by echoed by John O'Hagan From Trinity College in Dublin who asks can the current British government be trusted to honor fully existing agreements? To honor fully existing agreements and hence future accords if not What is the best strategy for the EU to adopt in that situation? So I suppose again there's a little bit of a track record there in terms of Explinding and that type of thing so how optimistic we could be that any any any deal it can be done and if done Will be stuck to it. Yeah The the question trust I think has has gone goes right back actually When it comes to brexit because you'll remember that When brexit happened and everybody talked about no return to the borders of the past in the Irish context The British preference for solving the Irish problem was through a free trade agreement Theresa May always believed that A future free trade agreement would be so closely Would see such close alignment between both sides that there wouldn't need to be any checks and controls on the Irish border um, you know, she believed in high alignment when it came to customs and And goods regulations even though that was very problematic for her in the conservative party but She initially couldn't understand and her team couldn't understand why the Irish question had to be settled in the divorce that they felt it was Since it was to do with trade and customs. That was all a future relationship issue But of course the EU and Ireland Felt instinctively that if they left the Irish border to the future then it would become a bargaining chip in the negotiations Uh for the UK. So that was why That that's how in a sense there was a An immediate lack of trust on the Irish and UK and EU side Going into this process because they simply didn't trust the UK not to try and make it a bargaining chip in the future relationship negotiations And so we had the withdrawal agreement concluded in October last year and the Irish protocol is part of that and we did have a period right up until May when There wasn't really a huge amount of trust on the EU side that the UK Was going to fully implement the withdrawal the Irish protocol, which is part of the withdrawal agreement Perhaps even that they didn't fully understand what they signed up to What the obligations would be in terms of customs in terms of vat and dexize in terms of regulatory alignment In northern Ireland to to the rest of the the EU single market for goods And that's because you had You know clear unambiguous declarations from people all the way to the top and putting Boris Johnson saying that there would be no Checks or controls no need for paperwork on goods going both ways between northern Ireland and Great Britain and also A clear sense that the UK felt that the joint committee which is there to implement the protocol and other aspects of the withdrawal agreement And that that was there really as a forum to negotiate away some of the more unpleasant obligations of the northern Ireland protocol So for those reasons There there was certainly alarm on the EU side that that Britain What was not fully Understanding what its obligations were or was signaling that it wasn't fully going to implement those obligations And that did cause quite a bit of unease and I think that's why the initial raw over the office in Belfast kind of blew up um because You know in a sense if the UK is not going to Fully implement the checks and controls that are there Then you you're going to need to have A hand on the shoulder You're going to need to have close oversight by the european commission by member state officials who who are Fully qualified in implementing EU customs and vat and animal health law and so on So I think the lack of trust was definitely there um And also was compounded by the fact that the the UK seemed to be taking forever to show That it was preparing to implement this new regime at the end of the year That it was hiring vets that it was setting up an IT system Uh and that it was going to start preparing infrastructure because this it's not just doing this at the end of the transition It has to be done You know the the process has to start by by the end of june um, so that was compounding the lack of trust I think um, but the There are certainly signs that the uk is coming forward now with with more concrete detail on on what is What it's doing but it is important as well to remember that Implementing the protocol is an international obligation that the uk has signed up to And that it can be taken to the european court of justice if it doesn't and People in the uk can take the british government to court If the protocol isn't being implemented That's all written into the the treaty that boris johnson signed So while there has been a problem with trust And there are safeguards there um, but of course If you do come to the end of this year and there are yawning gaps in implementation when it comes to the northerner protocol then The question is What leverage does the uh, eu have the nuclear option would be to say well We can't include this free trade agreement until you do x y and z at the port of larne Um or belfast or war and point Um, I don't think the eu likes to work like that. Um, but uh, it does Raise a question mark over what happens at the end of this year but certainly There are much more encouraging signs for the eu at least that that The work is now getting underway at a much greater speed Okay, thank you. Tony Questions here, maybe just uh link to them together one from patty smith the colleague journalist, of course the irish times And a second one from bobby mcdonough and just again to restate the chatting house part They were in the chatting house section of this, um engagement at the moment, but patty wants to know does Tony have a sense that Um, the pandemic the pandemic may be providing cover for brexitiers Who do not want a deal by concealing the inevitable cost of a no deal? And then bobby, uh mcdonough, what is the view and Brussels about who is really calling the shots in london is a johnson Gov are comings Okay on on the pandemic. Um, I mean certainly There has been um a belief that you could kind of smuggle the pain of a no deal brexit through under the cover of of the existing pain of of the pandemic um I mean, I think I think that belief is attributed to the true believers Of of the brexit movement, um, especially the cohort of vote leave People who have found their way inside number 10 There there was a great, um Analogy by rafael bear. I think in the guardian who said these true believers like regard a hard brexit as a as a a glass of whiskey that is better enjoyed As a straight shot down the gullet rather than to be sipped um But I don't think that their influence Um has been fully tested yet. Uh, I think in the first half of this year or else johnson was obviously preoccupied by his own illness by lots of other things and the feeling here was that he hadn't fully Engaged with the negotiating process, but that he is now much more engaged and I think the fact that Um, he agreed in the high level conference that an agreement isn't going to come out of the sky Both sides have to shift on their positions. I think people here find that encouraging um Of course, the eu has said that they know that they will have to compromise as well Qualifying that by saying compromise is not a dirty word in brussels. It's perhaps the essence of the base Um, and yet they're not going to compromise on their on their principles The role of the european court of justice and so on um so I I think the the idea that britain is going to go freewheeling towards a crash out No trade deal brexit at the end of this year has probably receded a bit after the high level conference Yeah, I do detect that it's in both sides interest to get an agreement and they do have a Mechanism now where they can test the margins and the politics of the margins more effectively When they're face-to-face when they're in smaller teams Um, I still don't think that they're going to have a magic tunnel appearing in july I think that is all going to happen in september and october and um, you know, it's it's Quite likely that the eu has self interest in that regard. Um But I think the overall Trying to use the pandemic as cover is probably a bit of a fantasy entertained by certain people in number 10, but probably won't bear out in the end So I can you remind me of bobby's question again Uh, what is the view in russians about who is really calling the shots in london? Is it johnson gove or comings? Well, certainly when donnie comings was appointed as special advisor to boros johnson There was a real sense of deflation here in brussels among member states among the working party Which is the group that brings together brexit coordinators. I mean I think british observers are always amazed at how closely the The system here in brussels follows uk politics I mean they have followed it obsessively since the referendum and they have to they have to read Uh, what their opponent is made of and the ambient forces around the their opponent Um, so nobody underestimates the the the influence of dominic comings I think they see that he was largely responsible for the decision not to extend the transition And of course that decision was taken at a time when boros johnson was either in hospital or convalescing so Certainly he has been a very important figure up to now, but I think there's a belief now that that johnson is going to be more in the driving seat As we get into the autumn I mean johnson is a Strange character in terms of his perception in brussels He is in in some ways a fairly toxic brand Given his time as foreign secretary Some of the things he said about the eu on the record But also he is perceived as one who will pragmatically You know turn on a sixpence if it means getting a deal and that was really the experience in October of last year and that might again come around to haunt boros johnson the fact that he What he swallowed last year what was really quite something given what he said on on the issue previously So I think as we get into the autumn the belief here is that johnson will be more in charge Michael gove is kind of more tied up with the implementation of the withdrawal agreement um You know that keeps him extremely busy because he's constantly being You know harangued by northern business organizations about the slow pace of detail coming out from The system and whitehall on what changes are going to have to be made um So it's not clear from my vantage point here what Influence gove is going to have on the future relationship although he is seen as You know a fairly true blue believer in in brexit and You know something of a zealot uh when it when it comes to the crunch um But I think the feeling now ultimately is that boros johnson will assume a more managerial role Once we get into the autumn that's obviously touchwood He's opposing we don't have a another second wave in the pandemic Yeah, just but with some exceptions, of course, uh, uk journalism still continues and asserts british exceptionalism And I suppose constantly obscure the realities of the uk and negotiating position I mean, how how does the commission of you are manage the shortcomings in uk media handling of issues like brexit? I mean, it must be very frustrating and when they follow Media coverage from brussel's obsessive as you say to see just the level of it, which is so It's so At times. It's just a time simply unbelievable Yeah, but I think um, you know over the years Even going back to the 1980s and certainly following the the mass trick treaty. Um I think the eu has been aware of the the force of tabloid antipathy and Uh, not just tabloid obviously broadsheet antipathy to the european project as well and I mean the impression I would get over the past couple of years is that people hear member states members of the commission Are fully aware that Britain has been in a kind of submerged civil war Since the brexit referendum and that there is so much signaling that that has to be done to one constituency or another And that's in the quiet of the negotiating room. The uk will take a more pragmatic position but you know That that tide of a pro brim Directed at europe certainly had results in terms of how people vote in the end and and you know people are sore over here But that's uh, no doubt Um, you know, it's it's expressed privately But you know, maybe publicly by people like martin schultz, uh, former president of the of the parliament um But You know, especially during therese amaze reand there there was a real understanding of the pressures that she was under and why she had to Uh, direct a certain reassurance to you know her party the european research group and her party That she was constantly trying to ride several horses at the one time and I think there was a certain amount of slack given to her but when it came to the crunch like in salzberg in In september of 2019 um Sorry 2018 You know, when the eu finally kind of spelled it out to trees amae You know, there were there was a human cry from from london that she was humiliated And uh, so on so you do get this real disconnect Uh in perspectives, um, but overall i'd say You know the commission the member states factor in that there's there's signaling going on all the time And that that might be different to what's happening in in the negotiating room Okay, thanks for the question here from to bias lock. He says the uk currently proposes The conclusion of 10 different agreements all together. Do you want only one for very good reasons? Uh, what do you expect the when do you expect the uk to climb down from that tree and exceed to the eu's demands? um well I yeah, my overall i would say That the uk is going to have to move further than the eu uh on on the big issues. Um, I mean the eu is still very united and There's more of a kind of a take it or leave it attitude in the eu You know, they like the single market and the way it functions is extremely important to member states, especially at the moment with the pandemic And the fact that so much money is going into strengthening the single market Um, that they are not going to want to take any risks with it when it comes to the autumn Um, I think on fisheries the eu is probably going to have to shift a bit more On on zonal attachment and away from the the status quo You know, okay, there there may be some areas where you know when it push comes to shove in the autumn that they may agree some separate standalone governance agreements, but You know, I think the eu does not want this relationship to be bedeviled by constant friction And constant dispute resolution over time And I think that's really is what's going to guide the eu's posture in in the autumn Thank you, tony. Just a question here from jane olmeyer in trinity. Uh, thank you for your insights, tony Have there been any discussions about the uk's involvement in research? For example, horizon europe or the erasmus exchange erasmus exchange program Um, yes, I mean those are Those are sort of ongoing issues in the negotiations And certainly if the uk wants to access horizon 2020, it'll have to pay into that's particular Fund for the privilege I just from memory. I can't detect any major Controversies there And certainly the eu would want the uk with its, you know, the excellence of its universities To keep uh participating in in horizon 2020 or the new whatever the successor is um On on erasmus again, that's something that's open to the uk if they want to pay into it, but There were reports last week that the uk wants to have its own um international exchange program which Has annoyed quite a few people just from reading some of the reaction to it, but Those are two areas that have not really raised a lot of controversy so far, but um You know that that's something I can maybe come back to you in another time Yeah, okay from lee mcdonnell He says the storm and assembly had the chance to debate brexit for the first time And when it voted in favor of an extension to the transition period He says along with the dup be ready to attack the need for checks at the irc How will this affect the post? Deal politic of climate considering storm's role in the withdrawal agreement and he said a second question Are there any legal maneuvers that can be made for an extension to occur after july 1? um an intermediary uh cooperation agreement for example Well on the second one, I think All of the experts have looked at this Would agree or the experts that to my mind really matter people like jean claude pierce the former secretary general in the in the council That that there is no treaty based way to Have an extension to the transition You know at the stage the that ship has sailed The end of june was the deadline for that and the uk has clearly said they don't want an extension Um, so I don't see that being an issue um the role of storm and in overseeing and Accepting the northern island protocol. I think is a very grave Reality that's going to be there in coming years, uh, and it's I don't think it gets the the debate that it deserves In essentially there's a new consent mechanism in the irish protocol, which means that After four years storm and can give its view in a simple majority form a format Of whether or not certain provisions of the protocol articles 5 to 10 should continue. Those are the alignment Provisions of the protocol All the other parts of the protocol on north-south cooperation and so on would continue But they could vote to pull out of of those arrangements. So it's really it it puts the irish government in a slightly difficult situation because The irish government will inherit any crisis that comes around four years after the protocol takes effect so the way to avoid a crisis is for the protocol to gain acceptance to Be metabolized by the business community and by people in general And so obviously the more burdensome or bureaucratic or costly it becomes Not just for businesses, but also for consumers who might find that they're or whatever reason There there are suddenly less of a choice of projects in supermarket shelves because of The workings through of the protocol that they might turn against it as well. And so it's in everybody's interest that the protocol is Um accepted and that it works efficiently. Um, but of course the government can't go against the grain of what member states want and they just want to make sure that the protocol works that The northern island does not become a backdoor into the single market And that there can be a reasonable accounting for where goods go Whether tariffs should be paid whether parts of goods from Great britain are processed and then sold on across the border Um, you know, they want to make sure that that all of that is done according to the letter of the protocol And this all has to be worked out by the way by The joint committee. Um, what what are the criteria for judging which goods are deemed at risk of crossing the border? And which are deemed not at risk and should therefore not attract any tariff Um, but tariffs are not there are still going to be checks and controls They're still going to be, um, you know, quite considerable amount of paperwork Not just Not Great Britain to Northern Ireland also goods going from Northern Ireland to Great Britain Will according to the EU's union customs code will have to provide a an exit summary declaration Which is cumbersome and expensive. Um, but that's going to be something the EU is going to insist on um, so I think the protocol is going to be difficult and You know, we've got some of the elections coming up soon and You know, the the polarization effect of brexit doesn't end with the protocol and we're going to be living with this for some time Really? Just a question from Ted Smith relating again to the Northern Ireland protocol. I presume in particular He says Tony how much influence does support for the Good Friday Agreement by Speaker Pelosi Nancy Pelosi? And chairman, uh, Virginia have on the British government policy on Northern Ireland and its post Brexit planning, I suppose it's a london question wrong the brussel's questions Maybe but nonetheless, I'm sure you're you're fully capable of addressing it. Yeah, I mean, it's it's certainly I mean, this is a warning that comes up from time to time and is is quite a salutary Um declaration from Nancy Pelosi It's it's really hard to say something, you know, it's really hard to predict how a threat like that would um, you know Unfold during a negotiation I mean, you would have to ensure that There is a component in the UK us trade negotiations, which specifically shines a light on how the protocol is being implemented by the UK government Um, I mean, how would you do that? In a way that gives all sides clarity as to what's happening I mean, you're talking about, um, the US Congress, which Obviously has to approve a trade agreement Are they going to be sufficiently versed in the detail and complexities of the Northern Ireland protocol to say You know, we're stopping this train right here until x y and z happens at the port of larne and I mean, you could say that The protocol delivers the promise of no hard border For now, um Of course, if if storming rejects the protocol in years to come and There's no solution found in the two-year cooling off period Then we're back to square one, you know, where do the checks and controls happen? Um, that that's the I suppose that's the achilles heel of the protocol um, but for now, you know, the the promise of No hard border has been delivered through the protocol. There will not be checks or controls on the border at all Um, north-south cooperation is protected Um, in the same way it was protected under Theresa May um, and the initial, uh, protocol That the rights issue is also factored in to the protocol, although Certainly human rights activists have have reservations about how it will apply um But I I don't see any major red flags there for congress to to grab hold of um, when it comes to a free trade agreement with the uk um, just A question from portick murphy Remember the the institute obviously the former colleague. He says there are reports It is in relation to relationships in brussels and maybe unrelated to brexit, but nonetheless There are reports of jockeying for positions between charles michel and urslive underline In regard to the meeting with johnson, for example But not only that it also enriched the turkey and the rescue packet package Have been mentioned as well. Have you seen any evidence of this? I suppose friction or tension between the two of them? Um, I I haven't seen that much in in in relation to brexit. Um I mean, you're always going to get tension between the commission and the council anyway um I think Urslive underline has had a very high profile during the pandemic. She's been extremely active um, I think the commission was really stung by the shortfall or the shortcomings of the e use initial response to the pandemic um, when it comes to brexit, I mean the The way things operate is that Michelle barnier is the negotiator. He's been given his mandate by member states and As far as I can see member states, uh, which is the european council In effect They are content to let michelle barnier and the commission handle the negotiations. Um So I I haven't detected any major problems. I think there was a there was there has been a problem with um a division of labor that charles michel set up, uh between his secretary general and his sherpa over managing European summits and the I think the sherpa Resigned a few weeks ago But beyond that, I haven't seen any anything that was blown up on the brexit front between both both institutions And just um, just we're coming to the end and now to when you've got about three or four minutes left And maybe just to focus in if we could on the uh, On the german presidency of the european union, which of course begins on the uh on the first of july so we have two questions here one from John cronin and mccann's mccann for sterl and a second one from uh, brian daily of kpmg John's question is what significance will the german presidency of the eu play or have and what role will angular merkel Play and from brian, uh, does tony see the german presidency having any impact on how the process would move from here I think it's very both very interesting questions and I think it's a bit of a misconception that Presidents presidencies have played Any major role on the in the brexit process? I mean as far as I can see going back to June 2016 I I can't see any presidency that has has has made a big difference in terms of steering or influencing the um The negotiations on the withdrawal agreement and then the subsequent negotiations on the future relationship I mean kruesia is handing over obviously to germany at the moment Meant apart from the fact that saltsberg provided a very dramatic setting to a huge row that treason a had with The eu uh 27 leaders You know, you can't really point to you know a single Decisive intervention by a presidency Well, obviously a german presidency is not just a your your ordinary presidency And of course there's that added flavor of the myth of angela merkel or the german car makers coming to britain's rescue But uh, you know again michelle barnier has the mandate from member states And he's entirely supported by angela merkel and the other leaders and You know if he's gonna if he is going to Have his mandate changed then the german presidency isn't going to dictate that it'll be Something that the eu 27 through the working party through the general affairs council and then upwards to the leaders At leader level They will be the ones who decide to relax or or change his negotiating mandate. It won't be the german presidency um That being said of course angela merkel will be an extremely influential individual in Especially in the final stages I mean the There was an absolutely decisive phone call between angela merkel and boris johnson In the middle of october which changed everything and that was when she told boris johnson that his plan for a customs border on the island of ireland with uh Technological facilitations was simply not going to be accepted and Three days later we had the tharton manor encounter with um the t-shock and boris johnson so angela merkel's Voice certainly carries a lot of weight um But to be honest, I don't think the german presidency per se will make a huge amount of difference Okay, well on that note, uh, only we're just coming up to two o'clock uh double in time So, uh, we're going to draw there. There are several other questions that I haven't been able to get to Um, but um, I think you've covered the gist of many of them in any event in your presentation and in your q&a So we're grateful for that But again, well, thank you for for being with us today Pleasure for for for giving us the insights on a regular basis you do from Brussels when I wake up every saturday morning Your your dissertation. Um, I know I've had your you're depressed for the rest of the weekend No, it's it's excellent stuff and and i'm sure it's also read by by a very wide g&d not just here in ireland But also Brussels and London as well. So thank you very much. Keep up the good work there and um, the next six months again Are critical on so many fronts, but not least of all brexit people I think, you know That we frequently hear the institute that people are getting tired of brexit that the brexit issue has been over overexposed in some respects But in fact, the more you speak about the more you one realizes that There are so many issues yet to be resolved and that must be resolved in the interest not just of Ireland But of the uk and the union as a whole So thank you, tony and um, and enjoy the rest of the um, enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you, Michael Thanks a lot. Okay. Thank you