British prime minister says his government is preparing for no Brexit commerce deal

 Boris Johnson: Britain will proceed if there's no Brexit bargain

The British prime minister says his government is preparing for no Brexit commerce deal.

If London and Brussels don't reach a deal by October, the U.K. will be prepared to accept that and"proceed," Prime Minister Boris Johnson is place to say Monday.

Both sides aim to agree a deal on trade and future relations by the time of an October 15 meeting of EU leaders so that the agreement can be ready by the time the Brexit transition interval expires at the close of the year.

"If we can't agree by then, then I don't see that there will be a free-trade arrangement between us, and we ought to both accept this and proceed," Johnson will state Monday, according to a statement released to the media before this week's round of discussions, which begins Tuesday in London.

"We shall then have a trading deal with the EU like Australia's," Johnson added. "I need to be absolutely clear that, as we have said right from the beginning, that would be a good result for the U.K.. As a government we are preparing, at our borders and at our ports, to be prepared for it"

He also reiterated his call for the EU to offer the U.K. a transaction deal like the one it has with Canada. The EU has countered, but that given the U.K.'s geographical proximity and close ties with the bloc, such a bargain is not feasible.



"At this late stage, if the EU are prepared to rethink their current positions and agree this I will be thrilled," Johnson said. "But we cannot and won't compromise on the principles of what it means to be an independent country to receive it."

The upcoming connection negotiations have struck deadlock as neither the EU nor the U.K. wish to give in on state aid or fisheries -- both largest sticking points preventing them from registering a bargain. The prior round of talks ended in Brussels with almost no advancement, boosting pessimism on both sides of the Channel.

How Keith Richards is Spending His Quarantine

Since the pandemic took hold in March, Keith Richards called up Mick Jagger with an idea: The Stones must rush-release"Living in a Ghost City," a funky song they'd listed long ago for their first album of new songs since 2005. Jagger consented, and wrote new lyrics; the movie currently has nearly 10 million viewpoints on YouTube.

New songs is one manner Richards has been staying busy at home in Connecticut. "We have only been hunkering down here, watching the garden grow," he says. He spent a great deal of time lately revisiting Goats Head Soup, the band's 1973 follow-up to Exile on Main Street, which they have just reissued with a huge box collection. After touring Exile, the band got together in Kingston, Jamaica, to cut a set of dark grooves that sounded like nothing they'd ever published. Critics didn't like it at the time, along with the Stones immediately dropped many of the tunes from their live set. But Richards came away with a different view after placing together the reissue, which includes 10 bonus tracks, which range from studio jams to unheard tunes like"Scarlet," featuring Jimmy Page. "I feel we did a fantastic job on it," he says.

Here, Richards talks about life in quarantine, reminisces about the Goats Head Soup era, also shares his hopes for the way the Stones will celebrate their 60th anniversary in 2022.

How are you spending your time in your home?

I'm feeling quite lucky that I have some space so I could get out. And aside from that, guy, I managed to [finish]"Ghost Town." I'm attempting to figure out what to do with those monitors we cut [prior to the pandemic], and if we could do anything else with them in a different manner, you understand?

"Ghost Town" was a perfect song for now.

Yeah, it was a matter of timing. Mick and I, we had it in the can, and we never believed that using what was going on.... I spoke to Mick about March. I said,"Hey guy, if there is a time to put out this one, it's now, you understand." [Laughs.]

There's a man who educates your riffs on YouTube. He gave a lesson on"Living in a Ghost Town," and that he had been speaking about how different the chords would be for you men, particularly the bridge. It is cool to see that you guys still evolving.

Yeah, it is an interesting track to perform with. I mean, driving around and seeing nobody around the roads, it was a pretty speedy connection to create:"Hey that'Ghost City,' we ought to put out that!"
What would the other new tunes you are working on audio like?

Oh, I do not know, it's hard to explain music. I think we've got five, six, or seven tracks we have sort of gradually been putting together, and at this time, as I say, if this thing is going to go on, maybe we should consider placing them out in a different manner.

Do you miss doing? Cause I [was] supposed to be on the street. So I always have this sense of, like, sudden redundancy, which I don't have any doubt millions of different people have had, too. But apart from that, I guess, in everybody's head, we presume that things will look up following year. Otherwise, nobody's going to play to be able to play for anybody, are they?

I actually enjoyed that last tour [in 2019], it was a great trek. I was very disappointed in March when we said,"Uh oh, this thing is looking bad" And a week after, they then started to say,"Oh, we will cancel the first couple of gigs." I said"I've a sense, nah, this thing's too big for us." It's too big for anybody, you know?

What do you hope comes from all of this?

I hope, like everybody else, there's a really good vaccine whenever possible. And also a change of regime would not be awful. Let us leave it at that, man.

I've been at your concerts and heard folks wonder,"Why do they do it? They have everything in the world they could possibly desire." What should you get from playing live?

I do not know, you may call it a practice. I mean, that's what we do. And also there's that thing , like,"Who is going to be the first person to get off the bus" You've got to be kicked off or drop off, right? It's like this. I personally mean, I actually can not imagine doing something else. It is not something you retire , you know?

And the adrenaline, and love, which you feel up there should be pretty powerful.

Yeah, I am only hoping everybody can all get back together again a year ago, without masks! By then, I expect we will not need'em. But I wear mine !

Can you put on a mask frequently?

Yeah, should I go out. It's not so often. We do move drift out and cease by a sidewalk cafe. Oh yeah, I'm a masked man. I mean, it's what you've got to do. I really don't care what it looks like or anything else. It is ridiculous. This is bloody Alice in Wonderland, you know?

I wanted to ask about Goats Head Soup.

Oh, yeah. It's weird, when you listen to something you haven't heard in its entirety for quite a long moment. It's a really interesting album. I recall course cutting Jamaica, and that made it very memorable, especially at that year. Because that has been'73. This was the year Marley and the Wailers set out Grab a Fire. That's also the year the soundtrack of The Harder they Come came out. I remember being in Jamaica. There was a sense in the air, actually, that Jamaica was starting to make a mark on the map. It was a fantastic feeling.

The Harder They Come introduced a great deal of individuals to reggae for the first time. It is such a great kind of entrance point.

Exactly, yeah, it is a great introduction to the whole thing. And you believed that at the air in Jamaica. At least I did, since I stayed there. Following the sessions, I transferred back and I remained there for weeks. That is where I met all the guys that finally turned on the Wingless Angels [in 1997]. It became my second home. But in the moment, when we were recording, we were just so into performing the sessions. We had been working like maniacs. Midnight until ten in the afternoon. While we were doing that, we did not have much time to have much contact with everything else was happening in Jamaica. It was after we finished and I proceeded up to Ocho Rios I suddenly realized that,"Hey, Jamaicans have got something going here, you know?"

What about the initial idea to visit Jamaica? There are stories about you having trouble getting into other countries. Is that all true, or is it legend?

Yeah, basically. It's one of those few places that would have us in the moment. As this is when the Exile bit of this whole thing really kicked . Cutting Exile was similar, you simply left England. We all moved in my basement [in Nellcôte in France] and carried on. We're in one another's pockets, you know? But by now we cut Goats Head, it was almost a couple of years. Mick had married Bianca, and ... Quite simply, we'd become exiles. Charlie was residing in France. We were all around the area. Mick and I needed to understand how to write and do this stuff aside, while we're not really next door in the hotel area or around the corner. This was my first attempt at writing long distance, so to speak.
And how did that alter the quality of the songwriting?

Well, you may tell me. I feel that we did a great job on it. Listening to the album today, I suggest,"Dancing with Mr. D," that's a fantastic track. We had this funk thing going that had not dawned on me much until I re-heard it lately.

It is a really it's a cool sound, between"Can You Hear the Music" and"Heartbreaker" -- you guys were taking it in all sorts of different directions.

Yeah. I think being'73, we are that which we listen to, and a great deal of funk music was infiltrating. As a musician, you don't reside in a vacuum. So it was a natural progression for us to move and try this out.

You went to Switzerland beforehand to do just a bit of composing with with Mick, and that is where you wrote"Angie."

Yeah, I remember"Angie" I wrote in Switzerland, in a restroom. Then, Mick was actually on the other side of earth. We got together a few weeks before we actually went to Jamaica to place all of the bits and pieces we have together into some coherent songs. It was a different way for individuals to work, you know:"Hey, I have this, but I still require a bridge. We were tailoring it up as we moved along.
Did you know"Angie" was special at the moment?

I don't quite remember how the conclusion was made on"Angie." I was very happy with it, because it took the Stones on that singles market in that age. It gave us an additional taste, yet another location. As I say, through the mist of time, I can't recall how"Angie" really became a single.

Yeahout of sheer boredom. My daughter Angie had just been born recently. The weird thing is, in the moment, we didn't call her Angie, since that was a title given to her by Roman Catholic nuns, because she was born in a Catholic hospital. "You've got to own just one [from] this list of names" Anita was calling her things like"Dandelion," you know, it was the period. But weirdly enough, the Angie thing always stuck in my mind. And that was actually the title later on she chose to go by.

Dylan recently said that"Angie" was one of the favorite Stones songs.

Really? I didn't know that. Bless old Bob. I love his new record, guy. He's done a lovely job there, Rough & Rowdy Ways.

I thought of you when I heard the record, especially"Goodbye Jimmy Reed."

Yeah, guy, bless him.

Back to Goats Head Soup --"Heartbreaker" is this extraordinary recording, particularly the way the guitars leap out at you through the tune.

Yeah, lovely riff, man. I was really happy to kick that one out. A good deal of tracks weren't thought about or exercised considerably before we really get inside there. Some of them are maybe an hour .
[Laughs.] Let's say that it speaks for itself.

What about"Scarlet," the track together with Jimmy Page?

Oh, that's really difficult to remember. Jimmy has waltzed in on several sessions through the years. And"Scarlet," my sense is that we walked as Led Zeppelin had completed [a session]... or Jimmy and Rick Grech. I believe our session was later theirs, and they stuck . [Laughs]

There is an old quote where you were looking back on the Seventies, and you said the Stones had too many people playing on your documents, which compromised the noise. Has your view that changed?
I have stated that. But nah, I wouldn't want adhere on anything, particularly this record, since each one the sidemen, there is very few of these, and they're the best in the world, you know?

Mick said he is working on a documentary. Are the Stones working on one in the moment?

I'm not sure. Some things were in the works prior to the pandemic. You simply take the"dem" outside, and all you get is panic!

Let us hope so. And I hope to celebrate as many of us as possible. Look on the bright side -- one has to do that, you understand?

It is going to be a fairly special moment when you guys walk on point .
I expect we are all there, man. It's something to look forward to.