RayC

We've trodden this path many times before, Trans. If you believe having the ability to change the 3% of EU law, which the UK voted against, has been worth the past 6.5 years (and counting) of chaos and economic decline then fair enough. Far too big a price for me.

Liverpool drew their last match therefore they will draw their next match. No need to consider who they are playing, what players are injured, etc.

As Keynes is often misquoted as saying: "In the long term we are all dead"

Go ahead then

The methodology and assumptions behind the IMF's predictions should be in the full report(s) which can be downloaded from their website.

And yet (behind a paywall but the gist of the message is clear) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-22/london-stock-market-is-now-250-billion-smaller-than-paris#xj4y7vzkg?leadSource=uverify wall

Which rather begs the question: Why leave if we don't know that the alternative is better?

Yet Brexiters will never tell us when the Brexit' benefits are expected to kick in and how long the payback period will be. It's all 'Manana'.

Some facts about UK asylum seekers. Draw your own conclusions https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2022/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#:~:text=There were 74%2C751 asylum applications,number for almost 2 decades.

Agreed to an extent. Italy is a wonderful country but I doubt that it is necessarily the only choice that asylum seekers landing there would find acceptable. It is also unreasonable to expect Italy to accommodate all these refugees. This is why Merkel and the European Commission proposed a quota system among EU states for resettling refugees. Although this became law, it was never fully implemented and, I believe, has now been rescinded. The opposite may be true for UK asylum seekers. They almost certainly do have a desire to resettle in the UK rather than elsewhere (presumably because of family ties, linguistic reasons, etc.). Is this an unreasonable request?

I'm not sure what you mean? My interpretation - which obviously may be completely incorrect - is that this means asylum seekers cannot become permanent residents/ citizens of the country in which they seek refuge? Instead, they are held in what sounds like some sort of "open prison" where they remain until their home country is deemed to be safe? As I said, this might be a complete misinterpretation. If so, apologies. "Any" implies refugees as well as economic migrant. Isn't that what happens in the UK currently?

The police will need to be very careful when handling the evidence.

I am a little confused. Australia does not differentiate between economic migrants and asylum seekers if they attempt to enter the country illegally. There is no vetting process: Neither group are allowed to settle in Australia. However, if you do differentiate between the two groups (economic migrants and asylum seekers), then if you accept that, following vetting, someone has proven that they have a genuine case for asylum then surely they should be granted the right to remain in the country, be that the UK, Italy or anywhere else? If they are proven to be an economic migrant there is no need to involve a third country; they can be deported to their home country.

How do you distinguish an economic migrant from an asylum seeker on arrival? (The Australian solution makes no attempt to do this).

A thought crosses my mind (a rare and dangerous occurrence). If you use a VPN is it possible to set the location to the UK and then file your return on-line i.e. without the expense of buying 3rd party software? Not tried it myself so no idea if this will work.

This sad story highlights the fact that the migrant crisis is a Europe-wide problem. It is clearly not a problem faced by the UK alone in the face of the inability and/or unwillingness of France/the EU to deal with it as some would have you believe.

The IMF predicted in October '21 that the UK economy would grow at a higher rate than France and Germany in 2022 (see also Chomper's post). https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2021/10/12/blog-global-prospects-and-policies UK growth rates since 2016 - and most other economic indicators - have been negatively influenced by the decision to leave the EU.

Great????Just what we needed. A "cause" that seems to unite conspiracy theory nutters from both the far-left and the far-right.

More of the usual: Head in the sand/ Denial: 'Not a problem' (despite evidence to the contrary) 'It will all be good in the future' No accountability or responsibility: Not a problem caused by Brexit 'It's the French wot dun it' 'It's the fault of remainers for not getting behind Brexit' Jingoism/ Xenophobia 'We don't need Jonny Foreigner' All too familiar and sad.

Well, that depends what you define as "an age". In any event, the OP was comparing the time taken to download a form (+/-5 mins max) with the time taken to phone HMRC and receive form via the post (min 5 days). Hardly an improvement which is the MAIN point.

That's not the point. Why make it more difficult for people in the first place?

You're right. Just a few - less than 1 in 5 - French nationals support the return of the monarchy. https://www.bva-group.com/sondages/les-francais-et-la-monarchie/

It would appear that NASA were able to present a persuasive business case, and that the US government thought the opportunity cost of funding the project was worth it.

Going to be a bit crowded on that balcony

If that is true then it is definitely more than just marketing!