The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has revealed his plans for an alternative Brexit deal with the EU.

The previous deal, negotiated by Theresa May, was rejected three times by the British Parliament. Johnson hopes his new plan will be more acceptable in the UK, whilst still being agreeable with the EU.

The main difference between Johnson’s proposal and Theresa May’s deal is how it addresses the border in Ireland.

May’s deal included the so called „backstop”, an insurance policy designed to avoid a physical border with Ireland which many fear could bring up old conflicts.The new proposals, revealed yesterday, remove the backstop, which Mr Johnson has called „anti-democratic”.

Instead, the new plans would see Northern Ireland remain aligned with the EU on quality standards for all goods, removing the need for some checks at the border.

But, Northern Ireland, along with the rest of the UK, would leave the EU customs union. This means tariffs would have to be paid on goods crossing the border, making some infrastructure inevitable.

The proposals will be debated in the UK parliament today, but EU officials have already described the plans as „problematic”.

Here in Poland, the Teachers’ Union has announced it will recommence industrial action on October 15th.

The union will begin a so called „work to rule” strike, meaning teachers will do no more than the minimum legally required for their jobs. School trips, activity clubs, and other extracurricular activities will be affected as teachers go on strike, but regular classes will run as normal.

However, the teachers’ Solidarity Union has announced it will not be taking part in the strike, with a spokesman saying yesterday that Solidarity want to allow the government to meet the demands agreed in April.

A government spokesman said that so far the government had delivered on all promises made regarding pay rises this year.

They took the bronze medal in the Euro championships and now Poland’s volleyball team are steaming ahead at the World Cup.

The team, after winning all but one match at last month’s European Championship, yesterday saw off the hosts Japan in their second game at the World Cup. Japan struggled against Poland’s Bartosz Kurek, returning after an injury that kept him out of the Euros. Kurek scored 15 points.

The win puts Poland in second place overall, just behind Brazil.

And one of the most important figures in the struggle for Polish independence, Anna Walentynowicz, is to be honoured with a new memorial coin.

Walentynowicz, who died in 2010, was one of the early leaders of the Solidarity movement and a key figure in the Gdansk Shipyard strikes, the first domino to fall in the collapse of communism.

The silver 10zl coin, marking Anna’s 90th birthday, features her portrait on the reverse and an image of the Gdansk monument to fallen shipyard workers on the obverse.

The coin is available from Narodowy Bank Polski for 130zl.

Weather

A beautiful morning today but as we go into the afternoon the cloud and rain is set to make a return. Temperatures peaking at around 13 Celsius, that’s 55 Fahrenheit, but dropping down into single figures again as that cloud comes back.

RGEN News and Weather, Thomas Holdstock