11 minutes ago, englishinsiam said:

 

And we can still thank Osama for telling Brits we'd be at the back of the queue.

Cheers Osama you might have persuaded that last 4% to vote leave.

Go on tell the French what they should do. You will see they are even more stubborn than us Brits.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

 

Well you had better read the latest news and it appears that Trump has now bumped us down the queue, what a surprise.

14 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

It suddenly makes sense - Hammond has suddenly decided to talk about increasing taxes (just before an election), because he knows the Tories will win and so there is no reason not to tell the electorate .

 

I give up.

Hammond has stated the  flagship 2015 policy had constrained his ability to manage the economy. He has already stated that Brexit has blown a 122 billion pound hole in the public finances and he knows what is coming and it isn't a Big Red Bus.

32 minutes ago, Grouse said:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/donald-trump-britain-back-queue-trade-deal-eu-angela-merkel-brexit-a7696376.html

 

confirmed here

As Kenneth Clarke said in the Commons, "Nice men like President Trump are just impatient to abandon their normal protectionism and give us access!" and another promise goes up in smoke.

I wonder why Trump thinks its easier and more profitable to negotiate one trade deal with 27 countries rather than with the UK, for the life of me I cannot understand the logic.

18 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

This doesn't look good:

 

Trump puts EU ahead of Britain in trade queue

Wilbur Ross, President Donald Trump's Commerce secretary, has urged other countries to exploit the "God-given opportunity" to steal business from the U.K. This is one of the people now tasked with negotiating that trade deal.

6 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Maybe so, looking at your user name it looks like you are a fifer, dunfermline area.

A lot of Scots want us to remain, i cannot think of a reason why.

Sorry to disappoint you but I am not Scotish its just the name of a place in Scotland I once had a connection with. 

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

Dream on federica, your talking nonsense.

Just shut up and stop making yourself look stupid.

President Xi Jinping of China wants the UK to remain in the EU, adding his voice to world leaders worried about the country’s proposed referendum on membership of the bloc. Every world leader with whom we are on friendly terms wanted the UK to stay in the EU, yes even China but hell what do they know about anything.

Just to add we have a new world leader who wanted us out of the EU, Donald Trump.

25 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

I worked as the finance manager in a poor secondary school for more than a decade - and know that costs increased dramatically as a result of ever increasing bureaucracy - requiring ever more admin. staff....

 

When I first arrived there were three office staff and myself as the newly appointed finance person.  By the time I left, there were seven office staff and I had one full time and another part-time assistant!

 

Edit - I could go on about ridiculously expensive local authority 'recommended suppliers' etc. etc. that annoyed the hell out of me as it was such a waste of money and very difficult, even impossible to avoid - but its off topic.

I quite agree I am sure we could all point out waste and inefficiency  in any position. We could have a huge list of government contracts outsourced to the private sector which have been a disaster financially with hundreds of millions being written off and with nothing to show for it.  Often with the same company failing to deliver on the contract then being employed to do the job they have catastrophically failed to deliver. 

8 hours ago, sandyf said:

It was 1966 Bill when they imposed the £50 travel allowance.

I went out to Germany in June of 1972, That was the year that they had to declare a state of emergency in the UK, twice and unemployment topped one million.

 

Germany in 1972 - 11 Marks 40 to the pound and petrol coupons, never had it so good.

I recall being there in the mid seventies and at that stage the pound was being exchanged at just over 6 it fell to just over 4 a couple of years later and when Germany went into the Euro it was just over 2. The UK prior to us entering into the EEC was in dire straits power cuts etc and low productivity compared to the EEC countries.  However I cant wait to get back to those pre EEC days I wonder what excuses we will be offered then.

Just now, billd766 said:

 

You may have missed the point that I made. You think for you and I will think for me.

 

History is just that. Go back 2 or 3 hundred years and life was a lot different.

 

Life is in a constant state of change.

 

What happened last week/month/year/decade will change during the next week/month/year/decade.

 

The UK will complete Brexit in the next couple of years or so and trading conditions will be different then. Perhaps in 5 years or less/more the EU may not exist or exist in a different form.

 

Looking backwards gives people an idea of then.

 

Looking forwards is the way to go.

I am all for looking forward but if we learn nothing from past mistakes then we are likely to repeat them. Thus far the tendency is to blame the EU for our own shortcomings and removing ourselves from the single biggest richest market on the planet will do nothing to address those shortcomings. Our energy, utilities, motor industry, transport  didn't end up foreign controlled because of the EU. We denationalised the railways only to see foreign owned state companies in control. 

I prefer Kenneth Clarke's view of Brexit,  its like disappearing down a rabbit hole and expecting to reappear in wonderland. 

17 minutes ago, Orac said:

 

The EU has got a lot of flack for problems caused by UK govt decisions and mistakes plus them not using EU rules for the benefit of the UK but rather manipulating them at times for political gain to generate a an anti EU feeling.

Particular examples are the sell off of UK industry as highlighted above. The French used EU rules to prevent the sale of Danone, a dairy company, citing EU rules allowing them to retain control in the interests of 'national security' - an avenue UK govt could have used on many occasions.

Another glaring error was the decimation of our rail/locomotive industry by insisting contracts like the new Thameslink trains went to Siemens instead of Bombardier in Derby due to EU rules and not mentioning that there was nothing in EU rules for the contract to specify trains must still be made in the UK - a huge mistake by the DfT at the time.

The sorry state of UK industry through short sighted and politically motivated machinations of past UK governments is nothing short of a tragedy and led us to where we are today and the EU have been made a convenient scapegoat in many cases.

 

It was the EU that tried to save steel jobs in South Wales by proposing tariffs on cheap Chinese steel, something that was vetoed by the UK government.

9 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

Thank you for doing my thinking for me but what you see and think is not necessarily what everybody else sees and thinks, and certainly not what I think.

 

I remember 1973 very well as it was the year that my Mum died and also the year that I was posted from the UK to Germany while in the RAF.

 

It was the year that I could have bought the 2 bedroom bungalow that our family had rented since before the war for £7,000. That was a week after my Mum died and 5 days before I flew to Germany. Had I bought it the place would have stood empty for 11 years at least.

 

1973 was also the year that you were not allowed to take more than £50 in cash out of the UK

Try harder and think what the industrial and economic situation was just prior to us joining the EEC.

I am not surprised the Armada is heading towards Australia, does Turnbull think Trump has forgotten that phone call.

1 minute ago, mommysboy said:

I don't understand the point you are making.

 

The comments they made were plain, some were speaking in English. And yet they weren't satisfied.  Interestingly though, it wasn't focused around EU.  Like I said expectations plays a part.  Somehow the common  man is feeling the pinch.  And it is a real pain.  But it has nothing to do with being part of the EU or not.

 

Rather I think it is the erosion of communual values.  Everything that gives us shared identity has been eroded. 

I agree the EU like immigration have become the whipping boys but it will be interesting to see once we are out of the EU what will replace them. Somehow all those global pressures and lack of accountability will all be solved once we take back control. No doubt our power distribution system, our railways our motor industry, utility companies will all revert back to being British. The fact is as Macmillan once observed we have sold off the family silver and it makes you wonder is there anything the British will not sell. Even a German friend of mine was amazed that we allowed Rolls Royce cars to be sold off. What was the saying when we sold Gas, Syd was going to own it but apparently that has changed to Francois or Manuel or Fritz or even Mr Wong.

5 minutes ago, nontabury said:

Well I know what I,and the vast majority of the electorate voted for in 1973. It certainly was not the so called E.U.   It's unfortunate that the arrogant politicians and Brussel Beurocrats din't leave the EEC as it was. If they had then Brexit would never have happened.

Really then you obviously didn't read what the founders of the EU always intended. Something I have posted here several times.  Did you not expect the EEC to evolve in any way? However now you will be able to return to those happy days when the UK was not in the EU, no more blaming corrupt undemocratic Brussels bureaucrats. However as someone so concerned with all those changes on which you were not consulted I am sure you will want the final agreement to be put to the British people. Somehow I think not. 

2 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Whatever happens in the next few years, it will not be the end of it. A large percentage of the younger generation voted to remain so what is to stop a future government taking the UK back into the EU.

What do I think, not that it means a great deal. I think that we have run out of braking distance and the crash will happen, there may be a few last minutes swerves to lessen the impact. Once the negotiations are over and the transitional period has come to an end, it will become a lot more apparent how things have deteriorated. In about 15 years the campaigns to rejoin should be well underway, people seem to like being able to reverse parliamentary decisions.

Fortunately I will have found greener pastures by then.

None other than David Davis, Brexit Secretary agrees with you, he said nations 'not democracies' if they can't change their mind. 

6 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Well I arrived in 1944 and apart from the odd world war I thought that the UK was doing pretty much OK. I DID vote to join the EEC but however what I voted to join was NOT what the UK ended up with so when the referendum came along I voted to leave.

 

If there is a general election I shall vote as I did in the last one which was for UKIP. I know that they won't win in Taunton Deane where I am registered  but that doesn't matter to me.

 

My vote will keep the LibDems, Greens and no hopers like Labour out and deprive the Tories of my vote.

I think that you need to go back and read what the situation was in 1973 and how the UK was doing compared to the rest of Europe and the EEC at that time.

5 minutes ago, Laughing Gravy said:

The UK and the rest of Europe was fine before the EU. You must have insecurity issues. I pity you. I will tell you again. People voted to leave the EU for sovereignty issues. To make their own decisions, You keep telling yourself them lies and maybe some people, maybe will believe you. The unpatriotic thing is giving your identity away and justifying it in a body called the EU.

Project fear was that the UK would have a financial meltdown the day after the UK voted to leave. t didn't happen, so admit it.

"The UK and the rest of Europe was fine before the EU." could I ask when you arrived on planet earth. For half of the 20th century the rest of Europe was anything but fine. Then in 1973 when the UK joined the EEC is that what you call "fine"? I recall the situation in UK as anything but fine probably dire would be nearer the mark.

As for the predictions of a financial meltdown I think that has been exhausted just like the predictions of total financial collapse. All we have is Brexiters who claim that Remainers predicted a total meltdown etc and some right wing religious kook in the USA who has been making that prediction about everything based on some book of fairy tales he believes in.

23 minutes ago, jonclark said:

Er yeah right.. huge numbers of British are very much in favour of the EU. So this idea that schengen and the Euro are hated by the British is a complete fabrication. 

 

Just a regurgitation of the facts as seen through the filter of the Daily Mail and Katie Hopkins. Hardly a true representation.

Well I  agree with you but we have one particular guy on this forum who goes off on a rant when either Schengen or Germany is mentioned. There must be those who either travel very little in Europe or enjoy giving a part of their hard earned cash to the banks and like passport queues every time they cross a border.

11 minutes ago, Dodgydownunder said:

I've often wondered how many accidents happen when people (and children) have to navigate their way around an obstacle course of pots of boiling water and pans full of oil frying up meat and fish on the footpath. (usually within arm's reach of a young child and easily knocked over). Greasy remains on the footpath after packing up for the night is disgusting and dangerous.

 

Still.....I think it will be about as enforcable as not allowing people to sit in the rear of a single 2 door pickup cab.

I agree in my soi they empty their old oil straight into the soi along the wall. 

35 minutes ago, jonclark said:

If this lady wins and goes through with her campaign promises then the eu in its current format is a dead duck. 

 

If France restricts the free movement of people by taking back control of its borders. The EU has a far bigger issue than Brexit to deal with.

 

On the other hand if she doesn't that will dash the hopes of all those whose fervent wish is to see the EU fall apart as if somehow that benefits the UK. For some strange reason the Euro is still popular in the Euro zone as is  Schengen both of which are hated more by the British who are not involved in either. 

3 hours ago, Khun Han said:

 

No, the really sad thing is people like you buy into the pro-EU hype and nonsense. It's a hopelessly corrupt and inefficient organisation which is geared up to essentially serve the German economy , with the other big economies feeding on the leftovers. Ask yourself how Frau Merkel can veto an early trade deal despite holding no official role within the EU. One thing Trump, for all his faults, has got right is to correctly identify that Germany is milking the system.The corruption and largesse within the EU organisation is the reward to it's lackeys for their service, and has been used extensively to reward British politicians at the ar$e end of their careers/on the road to nowhere. The UK has basically been conned. And, when the divorce finally happens, when assorted EU goons stop spitting their dummies out, and when the dust has settled, it will become glaringly obvious that Europe needs the UK far more than the UK needs Europe.

 

Anyway, back ontopic: as noted by others, this is a non-story. It's just a normal adjustment that all the banking and finance industry businesses will have to make post-brexit.

The usual anti German rant from you. Somehow operating by the same rules Germany thrives and everyone else exists on the leftovers. However it will be great to get back to those days when we were not in the EU and our economy was doing to well, labelled as the sick man of Europe.

10 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Can this be the first crack in the wall?

Hopefully he is representing government opinion and not just his own.

No I don't think so, this very prominent Muslim said much the same thing.

Rotterdam's mayor tells Muslims to pack their bags and go if they don't like freedom

Rotterdam’s Moroccan born mayor tells his fellow Muslim immigrants they “can ---- off” if they do not appreciate freedom of speech in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack

3 hours ago, Khun Han said:

 

The Euro, as a German currency, is grossly undervalued, and German exports are being subsidised by other Eurozone countries because of this. If Germany were to return to the Deutschmark, it's export prices would go through the roof, and export sales would suffer accordingly. Conversely, Sterling had been overvalued for some time, and the fall in it's value post-referendum has taken it somewhere around it's true value. If the UK had joined the Eurozone, the Euro would remain overvalued as our currency. And we, the same as most of the Eurozone, would be subsidising the German Euro (and consequently it's exports).

 

And you are equally ill-informed about the UK economy: it isn't in "the shitter", it's doing fine: it's currently the second best performing economy in Europe, after Germany's. And it will do even better, once freed from the shackles of the EU.

Yep when Germany was on the DM we saw how its ever appreciating currency really hit their exports. However we can be thankful that sterling is going south as I guess that will mean we will soon overtake Germany in exports. However reality from the ONS.

The ONS also said that in 2016, excluding oil and other erratic commodities (such as ships, aircraft, precious stones, silver and non-monetary gold) the underlying trend in trade in goods was a widening of the deficit.

Well hiring a lawyer is a positive step he should be able to explain the law to her but then again maybe not.

They must have been shattered at the news, that will teach them.