⏳ Thursday Fix: Troubled waters

Morning all,

France vs the UK, and Poland vs the European Union - a tough week in Brussels in no doubt.

Until tomorrow,

Your Fixers


GOOD LISTENER?

Below is a link to today's podcast version of the newsletter. Although, it might be a day to do some reading - I have kind of lost my voice!!

In the words of good old Adele, go eee-e-e-easy on me...


FISHING FOR TROUBLE?

A post-Brexit fishing row between France and the UK seems to be ramping up, after France threatened to block British ships from its ports if a deal isn't reached.

What's the problem? France say some of their boats are being refused licenses to fish in British waters. The UK Government dispute that, and said the threats from France are "disappointing and disproportionate".

France 24 described diplomatic relations between the two European countries as being at the "lowest point in decades".


WEDNESDAY RE-CAP

Poland is getting fined €1m a day by the EU.

Why? This is about judicial reforms. A few weeks ago, Poland's constitutional court ruled that Polish law supersedes EU law in situations where there is a conflict. This was considered very controversial, as it rejects the primacy of EU law - a key point of the European Union.

Further context: Back in 2018, a disciplinary chamber to Poland's Supreme Court was set up. This meant judges could be penalised - the Polish government defended it, saying it was an effort to stamp out corruption. However, the EU expressed concerns it meant judges couldn't make independent rulings. In July of this year, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ordered the chamber be shut down. Poland's prime minister accused Brussels of "putting a gun to our head".  

As Euronews reported, the fine is believed to be "the highest ever imposed on a member state". Poland's prime minister described it as "blackmail".


A man has been arrested for sending death threats to Labour MP and Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner.  

The arrest comes just weeks after the murder of Conservative MP, Sir David Amess.

"Friends said they had had wider concerns for her safety for some time. Unlike Starmer, who has police protection, Rayner does not have her own security and staff had previously expressed concern about her travelling alone on public transport, owing to the volume of threats she had received." - Interesting context from The Guardian

Italy's senate has voted against a bill that would have made violence against the LGBTQ+ community and disabled people a hate crime.

As The Guardian noted, the bill had faced months of protests from Italy's far-right and Catholic groups.

An Italian member of the European Parliament described it as "one of the worst pages in the history of the Italian republic".


A WORLD FIRST

Adelaide United footballer Josh Cavallo has come out as gay.

As Sportbible pointed out, he is "the only current male professional footballer in the world to do so".

"Growing up I always felt the need to hide myself because I was ashamed - ashamed I would never be able to do what I loved and be gay." - Josh Cavallo
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MOST READ


#HAVEYOURSAY

Over the last few weeks, a group in the UK called Insulate Britain have been protesting on motor ways, calling for the government to insulate homes to save energy and tackle climate change.

The protests have massively   divided opinion, as they have garnered huge attention, but also frustrated motorists by causing severe delays.

Protestors yesterday even had ink thrown on their faces - click the link below to watch the video.

Anyway, we asked you all on our Instagram page yesterday what you thought of the protests. While you can still vote, at the moment a majority of you felt the protests were unjustifiable, with 58% saying they should face the six months in jail the government has suggested.

"They should be targeting big corps/government, instead of ordinary citizens!"
"The motivation to address climate change is positive, but these actions are not."

BUZZ... IS BACK?

Pixar has released a trailer for 'Lightyear' - which has already been viewed more than four-and-a-half million times - and is set to release in June 2022.

According to Variety, it will be the origin story of the real astronaut Buzz Lightyear, before he ended up as a toy on Toy Story.


ON A LIGHTER NOTE...

Didn't want to kiss you anyway.

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