Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

2019-06-01

Tech Review | Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-06-01)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service, 2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes, 4)ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, Huawei, and more.

1) Kiss Your Car Goodbye, Mobility As A Service

Drivers are already ditching their cars because of apps like Uber. Imagine what happens when driverless cars hit the roads. Bloomberg QuickTake explains the idea known as “mobility as a service.” Bloomberg.com video above published May 28, 2019. Note also: a generational wave, "millennials show little interest in car ownership."

2) The World's Largest Car Manufacturers May 27, 2019:
source: statista.com
Editor's note: How Many Will Still Exist in 2030? 

 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has made an offer (pdf) for a merger with the Renault Group that would create the third largest automobile manufacturer in the world. According to the proposal, the newly formed group would be co-owned by FCA and Renault shareholders at a 50-50 split with a balanced number of seats on the Board of Directors.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite -3% | S&P 500 Index -3% | DJIA -3%
Stocks Close Lower as Trump’s Mexico Tariff Threat Rattles Markets
Dow falls more than 300 points; Yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys hits a fresh 20-month low
Investor Notes:

 US: the earnings yield on US stocks as an asset class has further widened its gap to bond yields. If today's low inflation is not transitory, the U.S. stock market multiples may be way too low. "What can drive [bond] yields higher? Inflation, which nobody in the investing universe believes is an actual ‘thing’ anymore," Nomura’s Charlie McElligott wrote last week.

China: US-Traded Chinese Stocks & ADRs Totally Crushed--many by 50% or 60% or more. See also Which Chinese Banks Will Fail Next?

Eurozone: haggling over who will succeed Mario Draghi begins--the process to replace ECB president comes under scrutiny as region faces economic and political turmoil. German Unemployment Explodes Most Since Financial Crisis, Sending Bund Yields Near Record Lows.

Gundlach: Deutsche Bank "price action looking pretty scary"and Soc Gen "heading straight south yet again"--
UK: May Ends In June--UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been a dismal failure--"She's no Lady Thatcher." Boris Johnson, Conservative Party MP, former UK Secretary of State, and former Mayor of London (2008-2016), likely to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister.

The Brexit Party's rising star is Annunziata Rees-Mogg, newly elected MEP:
4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Facebook expects to launch cryptocurrency ‘GlobalCoin’ in Q1 2020, as a stablecoin pegged to a basket of fiat currencies, and is spending significant time with officials from both the US Treasury and the Bank of England. Facebook is also talking with money transfer firms including Western Union, clearly intending to compete with Paypal’s Venmo and Square’s CashApp, and become one of the world’s leading digital wallets.--Ark-Invest.com.

Quantum computing could help companies address problems as huge as supply chains and climate change. IBM, Google, Microsoft, and others are racing to bring the tech from theory to practice.

Nvidia bringing pro-level Quadro RTX GPUs to laptops--the Quadro RTX 5000 series is now available in mobile form. See also: Nvidia unveils its first AI platform for edge devices--Nvidia EGX, compatible with AWS and Azure IoT offerings; launch partners include Cisco, HPE, and Lenovo.

For Uber, autonomous vehicles can't come soon enough--Uber loses $1 billion in quarter as costs grow for drivers, food delivery.

Huawei: court documents, government and industry sources detail decades of Huawei's alleged IP theft, from the science behind 5G to phone accessory designs--channelnews.com.au. The fallout of the US Commerce Department adding Huawei to its “Entity List,” could be profound. President Trump's offhand remarks that Huawei was banned because it is a security threat yet the ban could be lifted as part of a trade deal, makes no sense except as a taunting negotiating ploy. Huawei smartphones rely on ARM-based CPUs and Google’s Android operating system. An export ban on these technologies effectively freezes Huawei’s product roadmap. Huawei will have to find alternatives to ARM-based mobile chips and a non-Google version of Android, a nearly impossible task. Likewise, Huawei’s 5G equipment requires components and intellectual property (IP) from US companies such as Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and others. Building a full 5G product stack, without access to US tech, is likely impossible.

Rare Earths: China supplies around 80% of world's rare earths, crucial for electronics, but not  effective for retaliation over the Huawei ban--despite the name, rare earths just aren't that rare.

Malinvestment: Tech Unicorns Are Just Like China's "Ghost Cities."

Congratulations to companies in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asia countries--"You did nothing, but you are all winners. Don't forget to send a thank you note to Mr. Trump, for all the new jobs he's about to create in your countries."--Likely Winners In The U.S.-China Trade War.

Google to invest 600 million euros in Finland data center. Note also: concerns rise about Google's ~121K temporary and contract workers globally, compared with just ~102K full-time staff.

Japan to limit foreign ownership of firms in its IT, telecom sectors,

Alibaba plans second listing in Hong Kong to raise $20 billion. China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC), delists from the NYSE.

IKEA to revamp app--the world’s biggest furniture retailer is shifting its business model away from brick-and-mortar suburban stores towards making shopping easier online.

Disruptive Innovation (smartphones): Digital Camera Sales Dropped 84% Since 2010.

Crypto: up to 86% of total reported cryptocurrency trading volume is likely fake, according to analysis of exchange website visits--theblockcrypto.com,

Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint.

AT&T: CEO Randall Stephenson is "taking on Netflix and Comcast simultaneously. It won't be easy."--a look at AT&T's "grand vision" of transforming into a “modern media” company spanning multiple content networks, distribution channels, and customer data streams--fortune.com. Editor's note: my gut feel is that "it will all end badly." AT&T can't compete with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, et al. Who are they ($T management) kidding?
$T
Apparently, Wall Street is not impressed! The only thing AT&T has is a sweet dividend (for now).

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2019-05-27

European Election Results LIVE

Nigel Farage | Good Morning Britain: 

Good Morning Britain video published May 27, 2019: Nigel Farage interviewed the morning after the Brexit Party stormed ahead in the EU elections, said the Brexit Party will not stop until the UK leaves the European Union, citing the failure to depart on March 30th as the reason many in the UK chose to vote for the party.

UPDATE: Brexit Party & EU Populists Shatter EU Status Quo With Strong Showing In EU Parliamentary Vote--zerohedge.com. See this EU election results graphic.

 European elections 2019 UK results: Brexit Party wins nine of first 10 regions; Liberal Democrats triumph over Labour Party in London--telegraph.co.uk

Centrist bloc to lose majority in EU vote as Greens and Euroskeptics gain, early results show--cnbc.com. The European parliamentary election is the second-largest democratic exercise in the world, with citizens across 28 nations voting for their new representatives. Over 400 million people are eligible to take part and the vote has major implications for the functioning of the EU and future national politics in each member state. The EU Parliament has a say on policies like agriculture and trade and is made of 751 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament).

Official Results: https://election-results.eu/

FRANCE 24 Live:

European Elections: May 23-26, 2019: The Netherlands and the UK voted first, on Thursday 23 May 2019, but most of the 21 EU member states vote Sunday, May 26, and results cannot be announced before the last polling station closes at 11pm Central European Time (CET) in Italy (Sunday 6pm EDT in the US).

 Election Results: officials at the European Parliament expect to announce the first projection of results, based on exit polls and counted votes, as soon as 11:15pm CET (6:15pm EDT) on Sunday, May 26, 2019.

European Elections 2019:
source: europarl.europa.eu
See also:
The Brexit Party (UK):

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2019-04-10

Brexit Mar 29, 2019? Apr 12? Oct 31? - Jan 31, 2020

January 31, 2020: Congrats & Godspeed to the UK on its new beginning! #Brexit #Democracy #UnitedKingdom
2019 Dec 12 UK General Election Results: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party wins a large majority with 365 seats to Labour's 203, SNP 48, LibDem 11, DUP 8, Others 15.

Live coverage from ITV News as the results of the 2019 UK General Election come in. 

 See also @TelePolitics and @bbcelection and bbc.com/news/election/2019 and Results via Google.

During a General Election, UK voters in each local constituency select one MP (Minister of Parliament) to represent the local constituency in the UK House of Commons. The UK uses a first past the post voting system. This means that the MP that receives the most votes (plurality) will win the constituency's seat in parliament. The overall number of votes a party receives across the country is irrelevant, each MP is elected by local constituency. However, the 'winning party' must gain a majority number of seats in an election or be forced to form a coalition with another party in order to form a government.  Although there are a total of 650 seats in the House of Commons, the number of seats a party needs to claim an effective majority in the House of Commons may only be 320 seats.

Voters: anyone aged 18 or over can vote as long as they are registered and a British citizen or qualifying citizen of the Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland.

 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is projected to win a majority in parliament at the Dec. 12 election, according to a model from pollsters YouGov that accurately predicted the 2017 election.

 Nov 17, 2019: UK PM Boris Johnson pledges to end Brexit uncertainty, says it has paralyzed the economy.

 Nov 13, 2019: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised he would end the “unbearable” uncertainty around Brexit if he wins the December 12th election, saying that political paralysis was affecting investment decisions in the country.
SavantaComRes survey Nov. 13 and 14: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party 41% (up 1%), Labour 33%, pro-European Union Liberal Democrats 14%, and the Brexit Party 5%.
Nov 5:, 2019: The U.S. has pushed past Germany and France as the most common trading partner for businesses in the UK, and looks set to keep this position after the UK leaves the European Union, according to an annual survey by HSBC.

Oct 29, 2019: General Election on December 12th. 
Geoffrey Cox, Attorney General: "This Parliament Is A Disgrace!" (video).
Oct 28, 2019: France caves, EU Gives Brexit Extension to January 31, 2020.
Another Delay = more uncertainty = Recession.
Oct 25, 2019: Asked what France made of other EU countries’ preference for a long-term extension to Jan. 31, the French official said: “This period of uncertainty is toxic. What is the point of just giving time to time?”

 Deal or No-Deal Brexit October 31? [Editor's note: 589 of 650 MPs were elected in 2017 on a manifesto to get Brexit done.]
Oct 23: France to the Rescue? Macron [or someone else] may veto EU extension (Editor's note: that would be in the best interests of the EU, France, and the UK). France does not want the UK blocking its agenda in the European Parliament. France gains seats in the European Parliament if the UK leaves, but Germany does not. For many reasons it makes sense for French President Emmanuel Macron to help Boris Johnson.
"As one Brexiteer explained to me: We joined a simple trade agreement with open borders to the world, but that mission-crept into a closed economy heading towards an unlikely political union bound together in common currency that shackles most countries to perpetual penury, in a system designed and promoted by the French to pursue their 400 year historical goal of European hegemony."--Bill Blain.
Oct 22: House of Commons defeats "Programme motion" which in effect makes it impossible for Parliament (House of Commons and House of Lords) to pass the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill (pdf) before October 31, 2019, The "EU Bill" is "in limbo" now, subject to review by a House of Commons committee. Editor's note: it is now clear that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is holding the House of Commons accountable for its 'games' to delay and deny his 'Brexit deal.'  See also Pound, Stocks Slide As Plan For Whirlwind Brexit-Deal Votes Defeated - The final total: 308-322 (Oct 22, 2019).

House of Commons LIVE Video, Tuesday, Oct 22, 2019 (starts 11:30 am London).

 Oct 19: British Pound Tumbles 1% In Weekend Markets After Brexit Vote Delayed
UK House of Commons debate (video), Saturday, 19 October 2019.

 Oct 17: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson secures EU approval for 'no delay' Brexit deal. 
UPDATE 15 Oct 2019: UK and EU reportedly "closing in" on a 'Brexit deal' as negotiating teams work on legal text. See also An Alternative Perspective on the Enigmatic Brexit Process by  Steven Guinness: The Brexit Party "stand to be the main beneficiaries of another Article 50 extension."

 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday (Oct 6, 2019) that the UK could do a deal if the EU was willing.“But they should be under no illusions or misapprehensions,” he said, adding, “There will be no more dither or delay, on Oct. 31 we are going to get Brexit done.”

 Johnson’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, said on Monday (Sep 30, 2019) that Brexit would definitely take place on Oct. 31. When asked how Britain’s EU exit could take place, given that there is a law which orders the prime minister to seek a delay to Brexit if parliament has not approved a deal, Cummings said: “Well, we shall just have to see won’t we.” UK finance minister Sajid Javid has also said the UK will leave the EU on Oct. 31. Also: Brexit Irony: EU Rejects Its Own Proposal (Boris Johnson Proposed a Northern Ireland solution the EU originally proposed);

 "Get ready for Brexit. The UK will leave the EU on 31 October 2019. Answer a few questions to find out how you or your business should prepare ..."--gov.uk/brexit
Oct 2, 2019: World Trade Organization (WTO) gave the U.S. approval to impose $7.5 billion in tariffs on E.U. goods to compensate for illegal EU subsidies to Airbus.  In addition to the 10% tariffs on aircraft, EU goods affected by 25% tariffs which go into effect October 18, 2019 (pdf), include cheese and dairy products, French wines, Scotch whisky, Irish whisky, and wool clothing from the UK. "For years, Europe has been providing massive subsidies to Airbus that have seriously injured the U.S. aerospace industry and our workers," said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in a statement Wednesday. Editor's note: the tariffs on UK goods, including Scotch whisky, will likely be dropped after the UK leaves the EU on October 31, 2019, when a new trade deal is negotiated between the UK and U.S. 
City of London, World Financial Centre: In a brief statement on Tuesday (Oct 8, 2019), the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) acknowledged that Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) had dropped its $40 billion purchase offer (which LSEG had already rejected). In addition, LSEG reaffirmed it “remains committed to and makes good progress” on its proposed acquisition of Refinitiv, expected to be completed next year.

Interest Rate Derivatives Trading Explodes to $6.5 Trillion per day--volume of over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives traded globally soared by 141% in three years to $6.5 trillion per day in April 2019, according to the Bank for International Settlements’ new Triennial Survey of Global Derivatives Markets. Where most of the trading OTC interest rate derivatives takes place? City of London (UK); $3.7 trillion per day or 56% of all global trades were executed at trading desks in the United Kingdom, a 213% increase from the $1.18 trillion of average daily turnover in April 2016. (#2 is the U.S. at $2.35 trillion per day, or 32% of the global turnover, up 9.8% from $1.24 trillion in 2016). Even after three years of regulatory tussles with its biggest trading partner, the EU, the UK has not only maintained its grip on the vast and fast growing OTC derivatives markets, it’s strengthened it, pulling away from New York and leaving Paris in the dust. “London is the capital of capital and this report shows that despite challenging times, the fundamentals of the City remain strong,” said Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, the municipal governing body.

UK trading also dominates in global currency markets. In April 2019, its FX trading desks generated a turnover of $3.58 trillion per day, up from $2.41 trillion per day in 2016, taking its share of total global FX activity from 37% to 43%. By contrast, the US share of trading declined during the same period from 20% to 17%.
Financial analytics firm Mosaic Smart Data has doubled the number of developers and quantitative analysts it employs since 2018 at its London base, where nearly 40 now crunch numbers to help banks trade foreign exchange and bonds. “London is hard to beat ... The depth and diversity of the skill pool here is unrivalled,” said Matthew Hodgson, founder of Mosaic, one of the new fintech companies in the forex industry.
Even Dutch bank ING chose London to centralize its forex trading operations, previously scattered across various cities. ING’s global forex and rates boss Gary Prince said it was more efficient to run everything from ING's London offices.
Meanwhile, M&G Prudential is proceeding with its $1.1 billion ‘Gotham’ Project in London's financial district, consisting of 905,000 square feet (about 84,000 square meters) of office space at 40 Leadenhall Street. And Goldman Sachs has set up a disaster recovery trading floor in a WeWork (WE) space in central London to allow the bank to continue operating in the event of a major disaster, the Financial Times reports. The space replaces an existing site on Paternoster Square near the London Stock Exchange, and is a "near-site business continuity location," where Goldman's most critical London traders could quickly relocate if an emergency affected its new £1.2B European headquarters at nearby Plumtree Court.

See also London retains global finance throne amid Brexit chaos and Euro Derivatives Trading: Andrew Bailey, chief executive of Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, has said it's for the EU to act to avoid overlaps in derivatives trading: “Currently all OTC derivatives subject to the EU DTO have their main pool of liquidity on a UK venue ... Without action, EU firms may lose access to UK liquidity pools and liquidity would be fragmented, harming both markets." There are 11 trading platforms in the EU27 that market participants could use, with nearly 40 in the United States endorsed by the EU, along with five in Singapore;  and Brexit prompts ESM to switch out of English bond law--Eurozone’s bailout fund to instead use Luxembourg law for its future borrowings starting October.

Dutch Ports Brexit Handbook
"Rotterdam’s port business community is busily preparing for Brexit. After all: the best-prepared port will have a preferential position within the European playing field."--Dutch Ports Brexit Handbook  (pdf). Brexit impact on the Netherlands: 55% of shortsea traffic and 90% of ro-ro transhipment via Dutch ports concerns trade with the United Kingdom.--https://www.getreadyforbrexit.eu/en/

10 Aug 2019 Update-- No-Deal Brexit October 31, 2019: Still More 'Remainer' Delusions--'Whiners & Remoaners'--Still Confused? Read  Eurointelligence.com: "Today we would like to debunk the myth that the UK parliament can stop the no-deal Brexit. Under EU law - the law that matters in this specific discussion - there are only two technical possibilities for the UK parliament to frustrate an October 31st Brexit. The first and the only certain route is a majority in favour of unilateral revocation of Brexit. No such majority exists. This leaves a less certain pathway: to seek a further Art. 50 extension. Since Boris Johnson refuses to do this, it would have to involve a new prime minister before October ... So, before we get to the constitutionally tricky question of what would happen in case Johnson simply refuses to go even if parliament were to huddle around an alternative, we better stop at this point and look at the numbers. They are not there. The numbers for unilateral revocation are not there either. This means that parliament cannot stop a no-deal Brexit on its own." --Or as Dominic Cummings, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's most senior adviser, recently said, "Politicians don't get to choose which votes they respect." Therefore, unless the European Union abandons its insistence on the thrice-rejected withdrawal agreement, a no-deal Brexit will happen October 31, 2019.

Original Brexit Date: 29 March 2019, 11:00 P.M. (London), then extended to Friday, 12 April 2019.
10 Apr 2019: EU leaders agreed to extend UK's exit date to October 31, 2019.

Previously on DomainMondo.com:
Links:


 Looking back at Theresa May's dysfunctional government: Theresa May's Brexit statement (video) to the House of Commons after emergency EU summit 11 April 2019. Theresa May gave a statement to the House of Commons after being granted another Brexit extension by the European Union until 31 October 2019. See also European Council (Art. 50) Press conference at end of meeting 10 April 2019. Other news sources: DW News Livestream  (Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster), and FRANCE 24 Live news from Paris, France, via YouTube.

 Special European Council (Art.50), April 10, 2019, 18:00 in Brussels (12 noon EDT). Agenda highlights: EU27 leaders will meet on 10 April 2019 to discuss the latest developments on Brexit. "In view of the rejection of the withdrawal agreement by the House of Commons, I have decided to call a European Council on 10 April," confirmed President Donald Tusk on 29 March, following the vote in the UK House of Commons.

On 5 April Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, sent a letter to Donald Tusk (pdf), President of the European Council, asking for a further extension to the Article 50 period. She proposed the date of 30 June 2019, adding that the UK government would continue to prepare to hold European Parliament elections should the UK still be a member at the time of the elections.

On 21 March EU27 leaders decided to delay the Brexit date until 12 April 2019, should the withdrawal agreement be rejected.
Original posting title: "Emergency European Summit on Brexit, Wednesday, April 10"

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2019-04-05

EU's Juncker Warns UK Parliament To Reach Brexit Deal by April 12 (video)

Juncker warns UK parliament to reach Brexit deal by April 12

"My Way or The Highway"--Financial Times (ft.com) video above published 3 Apr 2019--The European Union will not grant the UK another short delay to Brexit if UK lawmakers fail to ratify the stalled divorce agreement by April 12. UPDATE Apr 5: Theresa May asks for Brexit extension to June 30; EU could offer a year.

Jean-Claude Juncker is a European Union (EU) politician from Luxembourg (total population: 600,000 as of 2018), one of the EU's 27 member states (27 not including the UK which is presently scheduled to leave the EU April 12, 2019). Juncker has been President of the European Commission since 2014.

Updates on Brexit: UK Dysfunction | Brexit Or Not, Final Days Or Kick The Can Again?

What is Europe? The answer depends on the "agenda" and "narrative" of the one providing the "definition." A better question may be "What Is The EU?"

 What is the EU? | CNBC.com Explains

The origins of the EU go all the way back to the 1950s, but many Europeans are still unaware of what it does. CNBC’s Silvia Amaro explains how the political and economic arrangement works. CNBC International video above published 28 Mar 2019.

What's the EU? That depends on what you are referring to: the institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision making bodies of the European Union (EU), as listed in Article 13 of the Treaty on European Union:
What Scares EU Politicians: they know UK Voters Still Want to Leave The European Union
And The Longer Brexit Extensions Drag On, the Worse It Is For Both The EU and UK:
Editor's note: all of this angst and drama could have been avoided had the EU and UK simply negotiated a "trade and withdrawal deal" instead of just a "withdrawal deal" in the period following the Brexit referendum of June 23, 2016, but the EU refused, and unfortunately, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, unwisely, conceded the point, which is the BIG PROBLEM today.

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2019-03-27

UK Dysfunction | Brexit Or Not, Final Days Or Kick The Can Again? (video)

Time Left Under First Extension of Brexit Date, London time: 11:00 P.M., Friday, 12 Apr 2019

Original Countdown to Brexit: 11:00 pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019

UPDATES at Emergency European Summit on Brexit, Wednesday, April 10--EU leaders agreed to extend UK's exit date until October 31, 2019.
9-10 Apr 2019: Before an emergency European summit on Wednesday (Apr 10), UK Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Paris and Berlin on Tuesday (Apr 9), to "make the case for extending article 50" to Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

8 Apr 2019:
4-5 Apr 2019: Talks between Labour and the government over Brexit aren’t going anywhere, reports @JGForsyth (Apr 5).

Theresa May asks for Brexit extension to June 30; EU could offer a year.
See also: EU's Juncker Warns UK Parliament To Reach Brexit Deal by April 12 (video)

2-3 Apr 2019: Wednesday House of Commons and Prime Minister's Question time.
Bring it on! May has to go!
1 Apr 2019, results of 2nd Day of Indicative Votes (no proposal approved):
Five reasons to love Brexit

"The 29th of March, 2019, should have been our independence day but as Brexit struggles on, Asa Bennett reminds readers of the five reasons they voted for Brexit in the first place."--The Telegraph video above published Mar 29, 2019.

 Friday 29 Mar 2019, UK Prime Minister Theresa May put her 'Brexit deal' to MPs for a vote for the third time, and it was defeated 344 "no" votes to 286 "aye." May said the defeat of her strategy had “grave” implications for the country, while the European Commission said an economically damaging no-deal split is now “a likely scenario.” See also Theresa May faces her day of reckoning on Brexit - and is warned it will not end well--telegraph.co.uk. Highlights from the EU Withdrawal Agreement Debate (video).

Editor's note 29 Mar 2019: the best or  "least dirty shirt" option at this point appears to be the default option, leaving with no deal on April 12, in view of the inability of the government or parliament to come up with an acceptable alternative, since uncertainty is starting to negatively impact the UK economy (video). Under a No Deal Brexit the UK would leave the EU on  April 12th on WTO terms. Though a "no deal" Brexit is disliked by a majority in the HoC, it still remains the "default option" under the Brexit legislation passed following the referendum on June 23, 2016. See also Brexit: Yanis Varoufakis (video) on May's mistakes and the best road ahead.

Why May's 'Deal' Was Rejected 3 times? It Wasn't Really Brexit.
Links:
Mar 27, 2019 update after the indicative votes, Peston LIVE video via Twitter.

Mar 27, 2019, House of Commons video, MPs' voted on a series of options to try to find a path forward, even though the "indicative votes" would not be binding on the government as it goes against the Tory manifesto. No alternative path gained a majority:
The statutory instrument proposing a new exit day for the UK to leave the EU has been passed. House of Commons voted 441 to 105 in favour. This amends the definition of “exit day” to ensure it is 22 May or 12 April depending if the Commons approves the "Withdrawal Agreement."

Mar 26, 2019 video: UK lawmakers once again frustrated Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for Brexit. On Monday evening MPs voted to take control of the parliamentary agenda. They're now set to hold a series of indicative votes on the country's departure from the EU, in an effort to find a solution backed by a majority. May has said she won't be bound by the results, but observers say this latest development shows just how much authority she's lost  over the Brexit process. See also ERG lawyers dispute May's delay (thread).

Previously on DomainMondo.com:


Meanwhile in Germany:

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2019-03-15

Brexit Madness - UK PM Theresa May to Ask EU for Brexit Delay (video)

Time Left Until Brexit, London time: 11:00 P.M., Friday, 12 Apr 2019 

Original Countdown to Brexit: 11:00 pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019.

 UPDATES now at  UK Dysfunction | Brexit Or Not, Final Days Or Kick The Can Again? (video)
March 25, 2019: MPs pass Letwin Amendment to seize control of the Commons agenda on Wednesday – how MPs voted--brexitcentral.com.
March 21: May dashes to salvage Brexit deal in Brussels (video); Arriving in Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit, Mrs. May did not rule out leaving the European Union without a deal reports news.sky.com which also reports EU leaders agreed to extend the March 29th deadline to Apil 12. The deadline would be extended to May 22 only if UK MPs pass the prime minister's Brexit deal by the end of next week.

See also "... The faltering and badly drafted [UK Prime Minister's] letter to Mr Tusk is unacceptable, asking as it does for a delay of three months in our exit from the EU ... I agree some MPs have been delaying Brexit as the PM says. These MPs clearly include the Prime Minister herself who has wasted far too much time on a negotiation and Agreement which the public rejects massively. The latest poll shows just 14% support  for Mrs May’s Agreement."--johnredwoodsdiary.com.

March 20: EU ultimatum to May: you can only delay Brexit if deal is passed--Channel 4 News video published March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a long extension to Brexit while she is Prime Minister. See also the Prime Minister's statement (video) later in the day on Wednesday, March 20, 2010. See also: May's Letter Asking for Only Short Extension Came as Shock to EU--"EU officials say they see the risk of a looming catastrophe and the mood in Brussels is bleak as they realize that May has backed them into a corner too."--bloomberg.com.

March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May requests three-month Brexit extension--"I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, until 30 June 2019." --Letter in full here. See also Newspaper headlines: May's 'blame game' Brexit speech to nation | bbc.com.

But European Council President Donald Tusk said an extension would only be granted if MPs back the Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement next week. Three things could happen now: 1) no-deal Brexit, 2) May's 'deal' is somehow voted on yet again and passes,  or 3) UK revokes Article 50.  After Donald Tusk spoke, the UK pound sterling (GBP) fell, an indication that markets think there is now a greater chance of no-deal Brexit, but the London Stock Exchange benchmarks FTSE100 and FTSE250 have been resilient:
FTSE100
FTSE250
March 19, 2019: EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier: "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario" ... UK MPs "voting against no-deal does not prevent it  happening." See also France ready to veto any meaningless Brexit delay: Elysee official--reuters.com: "French officials say in private that they are not alone in their stance but that they are more willing than other countries to stick their necks out because Britain will always blame the French for their misfortunes."
France’s EU minister Nathalie Loiseau named her cat ‘Brexit’ because ‘he meows loudly to be let out each morning, but then refuses to go outside when she opens the door.’
March 18, 2019: House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPs he would not allow PM Theresa May to ask the Commons to vote a third time if the motion hadn't changed. The announcement took the government by surprise--Channel 4 News video.

 March 18, 2019: A 'Hard" a/k/a 'No Deal' Brexit will benefit UK and emerging markets, says Mark Mobius, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners. He also says he fears a soft Brexit will prohibit the U.K.'s economic potential, video below:

Ignore the nay-sayers – here’s why we’re still on course for a clean Brexit on 29th March: "MPs are not fearful of a weak unimaginative Government desperate to push through a failed deal. Parliament does not want to re-join the EU, it does not want a referendum. It cannot ask for an extension to implement the deal if MPs don’t want the deal. And nobody could stomach another drawn-out negotiation going on for potentially years and the imminent prospect of European Elections, manifestos, campaigns and all that comes with them. Once you have eliminated all the alternatives, the conclusion is staring you in the face – the UK will leave on 29th March and take back control"--Christopher Howarth | BrexitCentral.com.

Original post March 15, 2019:
The UK Government and UK Politicians Have Made A Shambolic Mess of Brexit (and the UK civil service is complicit)
Analysis and Opinion by the Editor:
The House of Commons ended its voting on a flurry of Brexit-related motions this week with one more humiliation and embarrassment for the hapless government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May--going back to Brussels and pleading for the EU (via its 27 other members) to agree to an extension of the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, a date May and her UK government chose following the Brexit referendum results of June 23, 2016.

Wherever you live, and whatever you may think of your own national government or its politicians, pity the poor British--Brexit outside the bubble: How do the British think Brexit is going?--UK Channel 4 News video published Mar 14, 2019, indicates how all this latest Brexit chaos is being seen by people who are not obsessives confined to the Westminster bubble.

Unless the British get lucky and get a quick exit from the EU by default on March 29, 2019, their economy will likely soon "tank" due to the continual uncertainty,  the UK government having chosen a no-man's land of "neither in nor out" of the dysfunctional European Union (EU) which is already entering its own economic recession--Italy is already there, Germany and France are not far behind despite renewed "easing" by the European Central Bank (ECB)--see Euro falls as Eurozone growth forecasts slashed | cityam.com: "European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi today announced a significant downgrade in Eurozone growth predictions as he renewed a stimulus programme of cheap loans to bolster the struggling economy." (March 7, 2019)

It appears a majority in the House of Commons prefer to drown with bureaucrats in Brussels and EU member states trapped in the Eurozone, rather than swim to safety and a world full of opportunities. This is Dunkirk all over again, but the boats aren't coming this time. Don't expect even the Almighty to help those who refuse to help themselves.
Regarding Brexit, the single biggest issue gripping the U.K. is indecision, Citadel (citadel.com) billionaire founder Ken Griffin said. “Until they pick a path, it deters capital investment. Politicians don’t appreciate when they create uncertainty it kills the willingness to invest.”
President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of Ireland

U.S. President Donald Trump and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar discuss Brexit at a press conference at the White House, March 14, 2019. Trump: "The European Union treats us very unfairly." 

UK Channel 4 News recap video of March 14, 2019, in the House of Commons: "May wins vote to seek Brexit delay"-- "In a narrow Commons victory this evening the government fought off an attempt by MPs to take control of Brexit in Parliament. Instead, Theresa May has presented a stark choice to MPs: back her deal in another vote next week - or risk a long delay to Brexit - and even the possibility of having to hold European elections in May. MPs are now expected to have a third meaningful vote on Brexit next week. That's just before Theresa May heads off to Brussels for what is currently set to be the last European summit with a British Prime Minister at the table."

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