These little details that Brexit reveals

An interesting headline here. One that reveals just that little bit more of what the European Union stops us from doing in the name of protecting domestic producers. Which isn’t, as we all know, quite the way we should be running an economy, we want to be protecting, exalting even, the interests of domestic consumers:

Warning only 60 lorries allowed to cross Irish border in no-deal Brexit - 13,000 crossing a day

Need for permit would sign death certificate for Northern Ireland industry

The background here is that duly licenced lorries from any EU country can cross those intra-EU borders whenever. This is as it should be of course. But there’s a permit system - limited, just like many taxi systems as to the number issued - allowing only a few non-EU licenced lorries to do the same. As the NI/Eire border will now become an ex-EU one that permit system comes into play.

Yet as we know from our Uber/Taxi interface the permit system itself is a conspiracy against consumers. And it’s only when we consider Brexit that this similar scheme to disadvantage consumers to the benefit of producers becomes visible.

Views around here, as elsewhere, on Brexit itself differ. But isn’t it interesting how many of these little conspiracies against us we’re discovering as a result of the process?

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Robert Nozick – philosopher of liberty

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The Victoria Era – a testament to free trade