THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - April 17, 2018 - Topic 2
In the Lords’ hands: On U.K.’s Brexit week
Theresa May’s
government faces another bracing week in its Brexit calendar. With the House of
Lords expected to vote in favour of continuing in the common customs union,
this may set the tone for Parliament’s final vote later this year on Britain’s
withdrawal from the European Union. This
week’s vote on an amendment to the exit bill is likely to be a replay of the
scenario that played out in the House of Lords last year, when peers across
party lines handed a bruising defeat to Prime Minister May on the rights of
millions of EU citizens in post-Brexit Britain.
The controversy over the future
status of London in Europe’s customs union has taken centrestage in recent
months, deepening divisions among the ruling Conservatives over a hard or soft
exit. Fuelling the rift was a leaked Whitehall secret analysis in January of
the economic fallout of leaving the EU. It forecast a meagre 0.2-0.4% rise in
GDP from a U.K. trade deal with countries outside the bloc, including the U.S.
and China. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition Labour leader, has
signalled a shift in his party’s stance and called for remaining in the customs
union as the only realistic guarantee of duty-free access to the EU after
Brexit. The veteran eurosceptic’s current disposition to forge strong links
with the single market is significant. Staying in a customs union will limit
the loss of trade with EU. It would also reduce the risk of a hard border
between Britain and the Republic of Ireland, a prospect that Dublin sees as a
potential danger to the integrity of the 1998 Good Friday Accord with Northern
Ireland.
However, sharing
the same tariff rates within the EU would severely limit Britain’s room for
manoeuvre in negotiating trade agreements with non-EU nations. Whereas a
customs deal is necessarily restricted to commerce in goods, bilateral trade
pacts typically include several menu items besides goods, such as services and
investment. The U.K.’s retention of the EU customs union would therefore
subject London’s trade deals with third countries to the tariff terms they may
have already settled with the EU. Such an eventuality would expose the bluster
behind the Brexiteers’ rhetoric of ‘taking back control’ of the country’s
economic and political sovereignty. In the event of a defeat in the House of
Lords, Ms. May would have the option of going to the Commons, where she has a
slender majority. But there is no denying the fluid state of the negotiations
over Britain’s withdrawal, or Brussels’ increasingly strong position when it
comes to dictating the terms of the departure. The hope must be that all the
parties concerned will make the best of a rather bad situation.
Vocabulary
Amendment: a minor change or addition designed to improve a text,
piece of legislation, etc.
Example: An amendment to existing
bail laws
Synonyms: revision,
alteration, change, modification, qualification
Scenario: a written outline of a movie, novel, or stage work
giving details of the plot and individual scenes.
Example: Imagine the scenarios
for four short stories
Synonyms: plot, outline, synopsis, storyline, framework, screenpla
Bruising: inflict an injury on someone or something causing
discoloration of the skin.
Example: A bruised knee
Synonyms: injure, mark, discolor; mark, discolor, blemish
Controversy: disagreement, typically when prolonged, public, and
heated.
Example: He sometimes caused
controversy because of his forceful views
Synonyms: disagreement, dispute, argument, debate, dissension
Secret: not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by
others.
Example: How did you guess I
had a secret plan?
Synonyms: confidential, top
secret, classified, undisclosed, unknown
Fallout: the adverse side effects or results of a situation.
Example: Almost as dramatic as
the financial scale of the mess is the growing political fallout
Synonyms: repercussion(s), reverberation(s), aftermath, effect(s
Meagre: acking in quantity or quality.
Example: They were forced to
supplement their meager earnings
Synonyms: inadequate, scanty, scant, paltry, limited, restricted, modest
Realistic: having or showing a sensible and practical idea of what
can be achieved or expected.
Example: Jobs are scarce at the
moment, so you've got to be realistic
Synonyms: practical, pragmatic, matter-of-fact, down-to-earth, sensible
Manoeuvre: a movement or series of moves requiring skill and care.
Example: Spectacular jumps and
other daring maneuvers
Synonyms: operation, exercise, activity, move, movement, action
Bluster: loud, aggressive, or indignant talk with little effect.
Example: Their threats
contained a measure of bluster
Synonyms: ranting, thundering, hectoring, bullying, bombast, bravado
Rhetoric: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing,
especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
Example: Born into a rich
provincial family, he studied philosophy as well as rhetoric and law.
Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, command
of language, way with words
Slender: gracefully thin.
Example: Her slender neck
Synonyms: slim, lean, willowy, sylphlike, svelte, lissome, graceful, slight
