Slashdot Mirror
Bank of England Accidentally E-mails Top-Secret "Brexit" Plan To the Guardian
schwit1 writes: The first rule of "Project Bookend" is that you don't talk about "Project Bookend." In retrospect, maybe the first rule should have been "you don't accidentally e-mail 'Project Bookend' to a news agency," because as the Guardian reports, one of its editors opened his inbox and was surprised to find a message from the BOE's Head of Press Jeremy Harrison outlining the UK financial market equivalent of the Manhattan project. Project Bookend is a secret (or 'was' a secret) initiative undertaken by the BOE to study what the fallout might be from a potential 'Brexit', but if anyone asked what Sir Jon Cunliffe and a few senior staffers were up to, they were instructed to say that they were busy investigating "a broad range of European economic issues." And if you haven't heard the term before, "Brexit" refers to the possibility of Britain leaving the EU -- one of the possible outcomes of an upcoming referendum.
"Accidentally" isn't certain here. If I was part of something that was wrong and I wanted it to be known, I would very well "accidentally" leak it too.
I think UK should leave EU completely. Sooner better.
P.S. I live in Germany.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
The headline exaggerates, anyway. The e-mail doesn't contain a Top-Secret "Brexit" Plan: merely the top-secret fact that the bank is going to be working on a "Brexit" plan. It's neither a surprise that they're doing this, nor a surprise that they want to keep it secret: the finance ministers of certain other European countries were already offended by the Bank of England having a Grexit plan.
So there's an upcoming referendum on leaving the EU... do we expect their government to not be investigating the implications of that? It would be grossly incompetent for them not to investigate what would happen, if there's any chance that it will.
So, what's supposed to be the news here? Is leaving the EU something that was not considered within the realm of possibility, but this leak demonstrates the seriousness of it? I don't follow UK/EU internal politics. (Except for Jeremy Clarkson... freedom to fracas! Reinstate Jeremy!)
We use...if I told you I'd have to kill you. I told you too much already. Stay where you are. I'll be there ... ah, told you too much already. Tell you what. Just forget everything I said.
I can only wonder how incredible the timing of those "leaks" always happens to be. Just not that the big discussion is brewing on whether the UK should retain its "Brit-rebate" and other undue privileges, we get to hear that the sky is falling over Europe should they dare to withdraw.
Timely blunders indeed.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I am a US Citizen. The US government is a big organization. There better be some projects contemplating unpleasant scenarios (such as dirty nuke in Washington, DC, hostile government in Canada, crazy warp drives, ...).
On the face of it, this seems like an useful exercise. This will force the government to focus on how hard they wish to work to avoid the scenario.
For example, if our leaders were to consider withdrawing from NATO I hope that the leaders can read a giant report listing all of the things that will happen in excruciating and well thought out detail. I am going to guess such a report would underscore how colossally dumb such a move would be.
Project Bookend is a secret (or 'was' a secret) initiative undertaken by the BOE to study what the fallout might be from a potential 'Brexit'
Good, so BOE management is doing their job, making plans for different scenarios that might happen. With the current situation in Europe, some countries might exit EU is not a very far-fetched scenario.
Calling this the "equivalent of the Manhattan project" is a major journalist FAIL here. The Manhattan Project is to build the bomb, not to study the fallout that might come from one. If the Project Bookend is a plan to make it happen, then the comparison might make some sense.
Yeah, I know, we can't expect much from journalists writing click-bait articles, but it should be called out nonetheless.
Oliver.
There is no information about what its remit is (past looking at the consequences of a BRexit). There is no information about the project's findings - as there haven't been any and there is nothing about what recommendations or actions would / could / should be taken.
In the end this is just a piece of sensationalism and I greatly resent the author of this /. piece hyping it up far beyond any factual basis.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Seems silly to be so coy about such a study. Actually, the government should have commissioned it publicly and presented the expected results of a possible "Brexit" to the nation. That way people could make a much more informed decision when voting at the referendum.
Comparing the intellectual masturbation of some economists with the Manhattan project?
What's next? Comparing the drawing of 4 years old with Michelangelo's frescoes?
I am very much in support of Britain leaving the EU. Later, if and when Scotland gains independence, I would be happy to see them join. But britain, with their retrograde social policies like expensive higher education, weakening unions etc. should stay the fuck away from the Western world.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Please leave already. UK is nothing but a pain in the ass anyway.
Of COURSE they're studying the consequences of a potential Brexit; believe me, the fact that there will likely be a referendum on it means the chance is greater than zero and thus EVERY responsible financial entity is doing the same.
And chattering that they are who they are, it would be almost criminally negligent if they weren't studying it closely.
In the same sense the U.S. army had http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki..., because unless they're busy with an active war (and even then), their job as a government agency is very specifically to consider and plan for any conceivable future.
Of course the troubling bit is the incompetence of mailing this to the news agencies, unless that was deliberate, which itself doesn't seem that unreasonable/incomprehensible, now that I think of it (except if it actually costs the minister a job he'd have preferred to keep).
-Styopa
And apparently your banks had it as well, they already warned that you exit EU, they move back to Hong Kong.
People keep posting this, but seem to be referring to only one bank, HSBC. It would be a loss economically if they went, but there is a lot of scare-mongering going on about what would happen to big business if we do/don't leave. No-one really knows how many, if any, of these big businesses would really follow through on their threats if they don't get the result they want.
There have also been leaders of big business arguing for leaving. The main argument is that it would make it easier for the UK to negotiate bilateral trade agreements with other rising economic powers around the world if it were not tied to the EU.
And there have certainly been plenty of small businesses criticising all the badly implemented rules from the EU recently on everything from VAT to consumer protection, which are creating an absurd burden particularly in the growing on-line sector. In theory we are supposed to benefit from more trade as a result, but some less charitable/more realistic commentators have pointed out that many nations in the EU are still in such a poor state financially that they generate almost no custom for things like new on-line businesses anyway.
The difficulty with all of these issues is that since no-one can see far into the future, none of us really know which agreements are more important to keep or develop and which are just getting in the way now. It's all just marginally-educated guesses.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Really? You're topsecret email pulls in your gmail contacts to you can "accidentally" email them?
You may have forgotten, but these people are FCKUING LIARS.
No, wait. No news, because this isn't news. They're a bank, of course they plan for eventualities.
Hmm... give us douze points or we Brexit?
Not much has changed in 30 years...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxwhBNo5yeg&feature=youtu.be&t=2m18s/
and of course...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzeDZtx3wUw&feature=youtu.be&t=1m15s
Since the UK wisely kept its own currency, disruptions from a "Brexit" would be relatively minimal. It's far more likely that will see Greece exit the Euro, because they absolutely refuse to stop spending money they don't have. (Note that despite talk of "austerity," not once since the European debt crisis started has Greek cut government outlays to match receipts.) To Greece (and to a lesser extent the other PIIGS), the welfare state benefits have become more sacred than the capitalist system underwriting them.
The problem with the modern welfare state is that eventually you run out of people to stick with the tab. It both discourages work and generates declining demographics, a dynamic that is unsustainable in the long run.
Well, Greece is starting to reach the long run. They can't afford their own welfare state, but it's become so entrenched that politicians refuse to significately pare it back even on the brink of national bankruptcy.
The UK, like Germany, has a strong enough economy to avoid this fate for quite a while, but it too will get there eventually...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
When it comes to debate, all of the reasons given for UK staying in the EU are typical sound bites, vagaries and bad analogies.
Some reasons against staying in the EU are:
The Commission is undemocratic, unaccountable and unelected.
The Commission keeps writing bad treaties that are severely to the detriment of EU citizens and only to the benefit of global corporations, treaties like ACTA, TTIP, CETA and TISA.
The EU wants it's own army and is clearly working towards getting one.
At the same time the EU and US leaders have been antagonising Russia.
It's like the Commission, EU president et al have read 1984 and are using it as a handbook on how to run the EU.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
We will leave. No doubt about it. The immigration issue is the deal breaker. Accepting a million immigrants every three years is not sustainable on a smallish island reliant on imports for food.
The first rule of Cannabis club is, you don't remember the first rule.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Does anyone actually believe the Bank of England's top press guy 'accidentally' emailed this to the Guardian, the paper most likely to run with it. Why even pretend?
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
This just in, folks: "A large company has created a contingency plan that covers a possible outcome of an existing referendum. It appears that, in a bout of corporate responsibility, a company has made contingency plans for continuing operations under various conditions that may impact the market in the future."
Why is this shocking, surprising... or even, really, news? Your government has contingency plans covering wars, invasions, disease outbreaks, and a thousand other possible scenarios, sitting on a shelf somewhere. Likewise, every large company with a shred of responsibility has contingency plans for all kinds of varying events and operating environments. Do you think that a major British bank would NOT create a plan for something related to their home country *leaving the European Union*?
Top secret confidential email leaked by accident, just happening to detail scary stories of how bad it would be if the UK left the EU. Totally a mistake, definitely not intentional bit of scaremongering to sway the sheep.
It does not look like an accident, but rather like a message: "Civil servant did the grunt work, now the People has to decide and the political leaders will just have to push the button. Do not believe anyone telling you we cannot do it"
I wish the best to Britain, and to the rest of the people of Europe in their efforts to break the power of the unelected apparatchiki who have attempted to usurp their sovereignty.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I have been following the press (mostly British) on the subject of the referendum rather closely. Although this is more a political than a technical subject, I found that only Slashdot's comments are actually worth reading and free of untruths and exaggerations either way.
I myself am torn on the subject. Should we determine how what the difference is between the contribution to the EU and how much of it is invested in the UK, e.g. in the form of regional development or research grants? I don't think so, considering the entire EU budget is not more than that of a small country, the net difference is likely going to be insignificant compared to the political consequences of UK being either part of the EU or being on the outside. Certainly, all Europeans want both a strong UK and a strong EU, there is nothing to be gained by being in a poor uninfluential country or being its neighbour/trade partner. In the few decades of its existence, the EU has done wonders here, removing trade barriers, modernising democracies in the south and east. Certainly, the EU, and in particular the Euro, is a work in progress, but it already simplified my life a lot and think Europe's countries would be off much worse during this crisis if they didn't have the solid Euro they had. Greeks, note that you had high unemployment before the Euro. Germans, inflation has been very low, even compared to the Mark. Brits, the pound has proven to be less stable, and even considering the current crisis, the euro gained about 16% wrt the sterling! http://www.freecurrencyrates.com/exchange-rate-history/GBP-EUR/2002
I love the UK, and I also think the EU is the best thing that happened to this continent, but at the same time I am not sure if the UK should be part of this project. For this continent to be relevant it doesn't need just the largest single market, it also needs political decisiveness and a strong voice. The EU would have to keep evolving to improve its efficiency on all fronts. This will require perpetual reform. In the past the UK, along with many countries such as Germany, has pushed for market liberalization and simplification to make the EU more lean. In the past years it seems that the UK is taking the short term view of getting exclusions instead of focussing on a more open and equal playing field to foster progress. Certainly the UK could add in to make the EU a counter weight against US, China, Russia. Though without the desire to do so, this continent may be better off bidding farewell to the UK and focus on the job ahead.
Either way, we better make work of it before it is too late.
Interesting. Makes me wonder if it was perhaps for whatever reason e-mailed on purpose.
If Britain exited the EU we would be subject to an economic disaster.
However the problem is we look set to be steered into this be minority interests of the likes or Murdock and Barclay Brothers that control the UK media and see their old school power base slipping away under increased integration. The mass media is full of fabricated up news about the EU banning bent bananas and imposing the 'French' metric system which as in reality invented by John Wilkins, a Brit.
Especially with the referendum coming up. It's their job to try and be prepared for events. You don't want them to be making up policies on the fly the day after the vote. I'm sure that the Bank of Canada has a plan that they dust off every so often in case Quebec leaves Canada (which I hope they never do).
Major UK bank, is investigating the potential fallout from a major political decision that everyone is talking about in the UK.
They wouldn't be doing their job, if they didn't investigate it. Before WW2, the US had colour-coded plans for prosecuting wars against most countries in their sphere of influence, including the UK. It's just sound management.
I hope they do, and I hope the whole EU will collapse because of it. The EU has brought NOTHING of value to the people. It caused their own currency to be replaced with the Euro and prices to go up drastically across the board. It caused more and more rules and loopholes for multinationals to evade taxes. It is not democratically chosen. It wastes money. It's only good for the 1%. Fucking rats.
If you fail to plan you plan to fail. I wouldn't be surprised if the BoE had teams of people working on plans for all sorts of possibilities, some in partnership with the military. I used to think the US government and military did the same thing for all sorts of possibilities involving national security until Obama kept saying that they had no strategy for dealing with IS/ISIS/ISIL (choose your favourite initials here) and admitted they didn't see the mass influx of illegal immigrants/criminal gangs/terrorists before it happened.
Abandon London, nothing of consequence remains there.
Scotland, a free independent and green country, is where your future lies.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --