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Tweets of the Week: Mobile World Congress, Brexit mess, and the beast from the east

By Jennifer Baker, Malte Ketelsen and Tess Vrbin | EURACTIV.com

02-03-2018

Hello and welcome to EU Tweets of the Week. This week, techies swamp Barcelona for their annual congress, Brexit, as usual is just one big mess, and the Beast From The East causes widespread distress.

Mobile World Congress – the biggest annual global collection of geeks and gadgets got under way in Barcelona.

But amid the sea of phones one stood out. Seeking to capitalize on its comeback, Nokia is looking to the past as well as the future.

Yes it’s the return of the banana phone!

James Francis couldn’t resist the entirely obvious Banana versus Apple gag.

While others remembered fondly its appearance in The Matrix.

Can you believe that was 20 YEARS AGO!?

Elsewhere, BMW wants to turn your smartphone into a car key.

Vala Afshar got nostalgic for the Atari 800 claiming “It will never become obsolete.”

There were people looking ridiculous using VR.

Cool cars.

Dancing robots.

Really, really cool cars.

And even FLYING cars!.

Be still, my inner nerd!

As Andy Bovingdon said, it seems to have become more of a motor show than  phone show!

On Wednesday, the Commission unveiled the draft of the Withdrawal Agreement for Brexit.

The proposed deal would require Northern Ireland to stick to EU rules in several areas, and be covered by the EU customs code.

Theresa May rejected the draft, saying it threatens the UK’s constitutional integrity.

Not something you’d normally associate with the UK, since it has no constitution, as Dave Keating pointed out.

Femi said that Brexit does exactly what May doesn’t want – pulls Northern Ireland further away from the rest of the UK.

And Alex Andreou noted that May already agreed to the proposal in December.

In a CLASSIC Freudian slip, May said she’s “committed to dithering” on the Northern Ireland border issue.

Mind you she also said there will be:
– No hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland
– No hard border between Northern Ireland and the UK
– No customs union between UK and EU

But it’s impossible to have all three, pointed out Rob Ford and a LOT of other people. No wonder the EU gets frustrated with the UK.

DUP leader Arlene Foster called the draft “constitutionally unacceptable” and “economically catastrophic” for Northern Ireland.

While Donald Tusk told May that if she didn’t like it to “come up with a better idea”. 

And The Daily Mash suggested maybe the Northern Ireland border could be a beaded curtain.

Finally, this week all of Europe experienced a brutal cold spell.

Britain’s Met office issued rare severe weather warnings in central Scotland, southwestern England and Wales.

Anita Singh spared a thought for the poor reporters forced to do endless weather stories.

But the penguins at the Edinburgh Zoo were having a great time.

The Russian embassy asked which of its customs Brits should adopt during the blizzard. Apparently they want to drink more vodka.

The British are calling it the Beast from the East, the Swedes are calling it the Snow Cannon, the Dutch call it the Siberian Bear and in Finland they are calling it “Wednesday.”

In Ireland meanwhile, it’s a bread alert! As the demand for bread skyrocketed, supermarket shelves were left barren.

Stephen Elliott compared the situation to the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Joe Galvin thought it was more Breaking Bad.

And the Finns likened it to Lord of the Rings.

This week we are supported by GSMA, the host of the Mobile World Congress with the theme this year, “Creating a Better Future.”

That’s all for this week. Join me again next week for more hilarious and head-shaking moments in the Brussels Bubble Twittersphere and send in your suggestions using the hashtag #EUTweets.

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