RayC

Not directly, no, but then what was the point of your post? Perhaps the police were justified in stopping the car but, so far, no evidence has been presented that justified killing the suspect. Let's hope so. The implication being what? It is clearly undeniable that some non-white young French men from urban areas are prepared to riot: The same is true of white, rural, middle-aged French men (The 'Gilet Jaune' demonstrations are an example of this). All the community or just a relatively small minority?

So therefore he deserves to die?

Peckham - and most of S/SE London - has been gentrified and, by and large, is now an ok place. It was still a bit of a <deleted>hole in the '90s, but even then that was an improvement on the '70s and '80s

How was a driver fleeing the scene presenting a threat to this police officer's welfare? No matter how petty the crime/ misdemeanor the perpetrator should accept that they run the risk of being shot?

I have no plans to commit a terrorist act but, if I were to do so, I think that leading up to the event I'd keep a low profile. A 17-year old ethnic Algerian driving a Merc with foreign number plates is hardly low profile. In any event, in the interests of consistency you will no doubt agree that it's understandable that a white shoplifter running down the street runs the risk of being shot by police in case they are a neo-Nazi intent of overthrowing the elected government. Won't always be the case but - by your line of argument - it must be a possibility.

So anyone who attempts to avoid arrest by driving off/ running away should be shot on the off-chance that they are a terrorist who happens to be carrying a bomb or gun?

My bad. Here's the latest figures which show how "well" the UK economy is doing. Imo little reason to put up the bunting just yet https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpmonthlyestimateuk/april2023 The Eurozone economy has had two consecutive quarters of negative growth, whereas the UK has shown marginal growth over the same period, therefore Brexit is justified!? What about the previous 7 years since the referendum? No comment on the points raised in 'UK in a changing Europe' report? (link repeated for ease of reference) https://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-the-economy-what-do-we-know/ As you say, must be tough being proved wrong.

And this represents the UK doing fine? https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpmonthlyestimateuk/january2023#:~:text=Monthly GDP-,Monthly real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have,coronavirus levels (February 2020). As for falling off the cliff edge: Maybe not, but nonetheless a steady and continuous decline with little, if any, sign of the promised benefits of Brexit. https://ukandeu.ac.uk/brexit-and-the-economy-what-do-we-know/

That is a sensible and necessary first step. However, what happens if the banks and customers cannot sort out things between them?

An observation from which you draw a false conclusion. Argument in the logical sense of the word a reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory. "there is a strong argument for submitting a formal appeal" If you say so.

A response which, as usual, in no way addresses my question. Reduced to insulting others and misplaced over-confidence in one's own ability and knowledge. A sure sign that you have lost the argument.

Without compensation? Perhaps. It would also cause an unprecedented outflow of funds from the UK and the likely collapse of the economy.

Taking some historic rates at random from the BoE website, base rates were increased to 13.88% on 28 March 1985. On 4 August 2016 they were reduced to 0.25%: If someone had looked at the average historical base rate on 1/1/00, it would have been over 10% (estimate based on a cursory look; I haven't done the maths). How does that any of that help someone trying to plan their financial future and budget in June 2023?

I am losing count of the number of times you misquote or misinterpret my posts. I did not claim that INTEREST rates were nearly 8%. I stated that average MORTGAGE REPAYMENT RATES were nearly 8%. The actual figure in May was 7.44%. Given the latest rise in base rates on Thursday, that figure will be "nearly 8%" if it isn't already And you know all that for a fact?

But as Chomper inferred, using historical average interest rates as the basis for deciding whether to take on a mortgage is not a useful metric.

Presumably all homeowners are therefore enemies of the proletariat and will need to be lined up against the wall and shot? Going to need a long wall. Someone had better ask the Chinese comrades if we can use theirs.

Fair enough.

Average rates are now +/-7.5%. Are those who budgeted for 6% fools?

I imagine that most people thinking of taking out a six-figure loan give it a bit of thought. Likewise, for those lending such amounts Really? The average mortgage rate in mid-2019 was 4%; it is now nearly 8% with further increases possible. With no sign of COVID or the Ukraine war, you would have argued in mid-2019 that the average mortgage rate would double in 3 years? So by this simple arithmetic progression we should expect interest rates to rise and revert to the mean of 8% in a year's time? And then what, a period of stability at 8%? A reverse trend down to what? I think if managing monetary policy was that simple, governments and central banks would have realised it by now. Yes at some point, interest rates were bound to rise. However, on its' own that knowledge is fairly useless. The questions were when and by how much? You forget the group in the middle which imo are the majority. What about those who had budgeted carefully and had funds to cover emegencies and, say, a 50% rise in interest rates? And what if these individuals had carefully budgeted that they could still afford to have a 2-week holiday each year, go out once a week, buy the odd gadget every couple of years but who now find that having redirected all their funds that they were spending on this less than extravagant lifestyle, they are still not able to meet their mortgage repayments; their problems are entirely self-inflicted?

Which, as I stated previously, is hardly a surprise given that they have been at these low levels for 13 years. If you are implying that individuals should budgeted for a rise in interest rates, then I agree. However, you seem to also be implying that they should have planned for a doubling of their mortgage rates which is what has happened in many cases; that is where we part company.

Is that a surprise when the base rate was <1% for 13 years? Maybe not but I don't think many people would have thought there would be - or prepared for - a 2000% increase in base rates (from 0.25% to 5%) within 18 months.

He - and others - were otherwise engaged; boozing it up at a Tory garden party.

Really? Any examples of the UK - when it was a member - being dictated to by France and Germany? Post-Brexit, France and Germany account for over 40% of the EU's GDP and nearly 50% of the Eurozone. Therefore, it seems reasonable and obvious that they would want - and have - between them a major voice in shaping the Eurozone and EU policy. Most of the time, the member states of the EU share a common goal and vision which promotes the common good However, it is a collection of sovereign nations who will also seek to promote and protect their own interests. If conflict arises, horse-trading and compromise is necessary. The UK when it was a member was, perhaps, the prime example of a member state protecting its' own interests. This issue pre-dates the Ukraine war. The initial EU agreement among member states - which Poland and the Visegrad group refuse to implement - dates back to 2015. The EU has launched infringement proceedings against Poland for this reason. Poland should be applauded for housing Ukrainian refugees, however, the EU has not punished Poland for doing so as you suggest. In fact, as of October '22, Poland has received €144m in EU contributions for housing Ukrainian refugees. No doubt the figure is significantly higher now. On the one hand, you criticise the EU for fining Poland for not implementing agreed EU refugee policy but, on the other, you criticise the EU for what you perceive as not doing enough to assist Greece and Italy. Doesn't seem very consistent. So there we have it. More unfounded EU bashing. "A federal state"? Clearly not. "A tangled bureaucracy"? A bureaucracy certainly; tangled? Perhaps. There is always room for improvement. I've addressed the national interest argument in a previous paragraph. If the laws were unwanted then they would not become laws: It really is as simple as that. Indeed. Many thanks to the 52% for the past 7 years of chaos. The question is, how many more do we have to endure?

I assume that your reference to ".. only 7 years ..." is sarcastic? If so, it is ironic that you then go on to rail against events that took place over 50 years ago! If your '7 year' comment is simply a statement of fact, then I withdraw my previous paragraph and apologise. However, whilst I accept that the changes (and any benefits) of Brexit might take time to materialize, the absence of any policies, strategy and projects to realise these benefits leads me to think that they may not exist. The UK fishing industry was in decline long before we joined the EEC. The treachery was that Heath's government - and Thatcher's in the '80s re the mining and steel industries - did nothing to replace the lost jobs in the areas affected. https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/sectors/agribusiness/who-killed-the-british-fishing-industry/#:~:text=Overfishing%2C geopolitics and the way,London's Centre for Food Policy. There is no mention of the creation of a federal state in the Werner Report; it is solely concerned with monetary union and what it views as the necessary fiscal policies e.g. alignment of VAT rates to enable this monetary union to take place. There is no mention of wider social, defence, foreign policy, etc. being centralised. I don't need your permission to keep voicing my discontent about Brexit. I can't see what points you are trying to make here, other than you have contempt for Heath and, apparently, homosexuals.

I agree but the important thing is to find conditions which are acceptable I think that views on the continent are a lot more nuanced than that. Ironically, there appears to be as much confusion about what "increasing integration" entails in practice as what "Brexit" looks like. Macron certainly appears to be in favour of greater integration, but he will not be in office if and when the UK applies to rejoin. If a Le Pen type figure is elected then the situation will change. I'm not sure what is Schultz's view on greater EU Integration but there is a sizeable minority against it. Imo that would be unlikely. UK tourism is important to Spain and I doubt that they would want to jeopardize it. I also doubt that the rest of the EU are keen to become embroiled in a major diplomatic row. Agreed. Imo it would certainly have made leaving even more difficult ... however, I'm not sure that necessarily follows. No doubt there will be areas of contention but are these problems insurmountable? Unless the RoI joins Schengen, then that's a non-issue: I've mentioned in previous posts how imo membership of the Euro could fudged (at least in the short term). Imo a common stance re immigration would be a positive step. Well the last two years don't seem to have benefitted either side.