Welcome back to the EU!

[Bolt]

7 hours ago, sime42 said:

 

Olives, wine, Parma ham.

 

Baked beans, pasties.

 

 

OK, so apart from the olives, squashed grapes and dismembered pigs, what has the EU ever done for us?

[Bolt]

7 hours ago, Sviatoslav Tulin said:

Love you all ….see you soon on Ukrainian battle field!

At least we have plenty of young men of fighting age.  The number goes up by 800 daily.

[stick-man-max]

Selling our sole? Brixham fishers divided on UK’s new EU deal | Fishing industry | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

---

EU trawlers to get 12 years’ access to UK waters, but some in Devon are hopeful about lower costs and less paperwork

 

 

[Squaredy]

I don’t think many people think trade with the EU is a bad idea.  It is handing over our sovereignty that people don’t like.  When I was young we were members of the EEC otherwise known as the common market.

 

Then without ever consulting the public John Major Took us into the EU.  That is the European Union.  Quite different from a free trade area.

[Big J]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

I don’t think many people think trade with the EU is a bad idea.  It is handing over our sovereignty that people don’t like.  When I was young we were members of the EEC otherwise known as the common market.

 

Then without ever consulting the public John Major Took us into the EU.  That is the European Union.  Quite different from a free trade area.

 

The issue is that in order to be part of a complex union of countries, you have to accept that sovereignty cannot be absolute. You can't expect to trade freely within a market if your rules don't adhere to those of the market with which you're trading.

 

The problem with referendums like the one held in 2016 is that the majority of voters are ill-informed or just stupid (the problem with democracy more widely, it could be argued). The British public was asked to vote on something so complex that they intricacies were largely beyond the majority of the electorate. The experts said that it would be an act of self harm. It has proven to be the case.

I'm fairly well informed compared to the average voter, but I still do not feel remotely qualified to have had the choice that I had in 2016.

Fundamentally, I believe in cooperation not competition, respect not domination, equality not power (that's a line from an outstanding song by a long forgotten British punk band called Five Knuckle) and being in a Union with our European neighbours is no bad idea in this increasingly fractious world.

[Tree monkey 1682]

9 hours ago, Big J said:

 

Pretty integrated, yes. My Swedish is OK (90% of the time i use Swedish at work). I speak German with the Germans and English at home and with most of my Swedish friends here. 

 

It's nice to live somewhere that is incredibly multicultural. Our school is 30% non-swedish born, and loads of the kids are multilingual. My kids are now bilingual.

 

Much can be improved with the EU, but nothing will work to the UKs advantage if it's on the outside looking in.

The EU would have been better as the original trading block Ted heath kept as, not this weird system that dictates are rules and laws. 

The is so much governed by the EU... Even the tipper body on a truck has to be eu type approved.. 

I think what bugs me is the way the EU gave a grant to move cadburys to Poland, when if cadburys wanted to move there then they should of funded it, not poached by the EU. 

The brexit deal was crap, mainly because people weren't honest on both sides of the deal... And we have spineless politicians that never brought the deal we deserved. 

Democracy was served, we voted to leave so therefore that's it.. Not some sly backhanded get us back in because the remoaners don't agree with what happend. 

Any one that votes Labour needs to remember that when ever they get in things will go wrong... 2003 we got dragged into afghan? Why it's not our problem! 

As goes for the EU and open door policy maybe ask the victims of Munich Christmas Market how that went, and the people in sweden, where the indigenous people are getting harassed or abused to wear the burkha. 

U look at England and we can't even get rid of the human rights act... Which stops us deporting scroats, it allows people in prison to sue the moj... 

And all the wokies, are now kicking off because they think nigel ferage is the next Hitler... Yet all he's stated is what the other parties should have done to start with and we wouldn't be in this mess now... 

 

[sime42]

2 hours ago, Bolt said:

OK, so apart from the olives, squashed grapes and dismembered pigs, what has the EU ever done for us?

 

 

D'oh! Do we have to? I was only in it for the flippancy this time.

 

 

[Steven P]

38 minutes ago, Tree monkey 1682 said:

The brexit deal was crap, mainly because people weren't honest on both sides of the deal... And we have spineless politicians that never brought the deal we deserved. 

 

Partly but also in any deal the other half are also wanting the best deal they can get, a compromise is made... which given the UK is a minor party of 60 million trying to influence 600 million we were never going to get the deal that was sold to us be Johnson and Farage as the green sunny lands. Always was going to be the UK politicians going to Europe cap in hand and begging for a better option than world trade rules. As noted above, there is not much that the EU needs from the UK to be used as a bargaining chip.

 

Was fairly clear at the outset that the EU would just laugh and get what they wanted, and the UK would suffer.

 

And then we put in May as prime minister and undermined her every effort, then Johnson who is basically clueless. Shooting ourselves in the foot when our best politicians at the time are not up to the job.

 

The fact that they are open to negotiate better term for us shows better UK politicians (Sunak and Starmer) than before (Johnson, Truss and May), and years of good will built up. Any negotiations that improve our lot is better than none at all.

Edited 13 hours ago by Steven P

[AHPP]

47 minutes ago, Big J said:

I still do not feel remotely qualified to have had the choice that I had in 2016

Did you still vote though?

[tree-fancier123]

1 hour ago, Big J said:

I'm fairly well informed compared to the average voter

even if I say so myself