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View Poll Results: Should Britain leave the E.U. ?
Yes 109 50.00%
No 46 21.10%
No.. But things MUST change 38 17.43%
I don't care 14 6.42%
Undecided 11 5.05%
Voters: 218. This poll is closed

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  #301  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Stage managed - didn't take long to get 36 companies in line

Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie View Post
The in campaign have the easier task. "All you can eat until Christmas and no foxes" will sell well amongst the occupants of the chicken shed.

These top level business people are all rich enough to buy their way out of the EUs personal restrictions and are in the positions they are because they are used to bending over when their bosses tell them to. The good ones, the real entrepreneurs should be itching to get out in the rest of the world and do their stuff free of petty regulation.

Andy
Boycott Asda and Marks and Spencer is an easy call.
They have been short sighted enough to do the bidding of our PM, whereas other food suppliers have seen fit to stay out of the arguments.

This letter, printed today, is signed off by 1/3 of the UKs' largest corporations which leaves another 2/3 with enough sense to have some level of regard for their customers rather than pander to the government of the day.
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Last edited by Walkabout; 23 Feb 2016 at 15:52.
  #302  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman View Post
Is Cameron's deal enough for any of you guys? I'm a little underwhelmed
Quite so.
Underwhelmed has to be a euphemism in this context.
e.g.
"Since 1996 Britain has opposed 72 motions put forward by the council of ministers and has been outvoted every time.That is 72-0. and those motions have now become UK law.
So much for being at the heart of Europe, and there is our oft quoted "voice in Europe".
British MEPs voted against 576 eu proposals between 1996 & 2014. 485 were passed and became law."
- an abstract from elsewhere; we all need to do our own research.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman View Post
despite being that rare breed of a pro-European Brit.
You are not alone, nor rare even; "tough love" or more of the same?
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Last edited by Walkabout; 23 Feb 2016 at 13:25.
  #303  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Will people vote for what's good for the country, or will they only be looking after number one? The £300,000 per person claims from the SNP during the Scottish referendum were a classic example of trying to influence people through money.

The trouble with democracy is that everyone gets a say in the referendum and I'd wager the vast majority of the population are terribly ill-informed compared to those who have contributed (both continue and leave) on this thread.

Many people in the UK don't read newspapers, so won't get much information that way, instead they will be fed sound bites on TV news. My own feeling is that those who have looked at the topic in some detail now are tending towards being 'leave' voters but I suspect the referendum will end up in favour of 'continue'.
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  #304  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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4 months of debate

Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie View Post
The good ones, the real entrepreneurs should be itching to get out in the rest of the world and do their stuff free of petty regulation.

Andy
Once we get past this initial phase of in-fighting of the political parties (well, one in particular), and the stage-managed letters written to the MSM, then we should get down to some informed discourse in the UK.

e.g.
A feasible model for the future of the UK lies some way between Japan (manufacturing and industrial capability) and Singapore (services).
Forget the fatuous, strawman, comparisons with Norway and Switzerland.
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  #305  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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What did the EU ever do for us?
Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade;
structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline;
clean beaches and rivers;
cleaner air;
lead free petrol;
restrictions on landfill dumping;
a recycling culture;
cheaper mobile charges;
cheaper air travel;
improved consumer protection and food labelling;
a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives;
better product safety;
single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance;
break up of monopolies;
Europe-wide patent and copyright protection;
no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market;
price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone;
freedom to travel, live and work across Europe;
funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad;
access to European health services;
labour protection and enhanced social welfare;
smoke-free workplaces;
equal pay legislation;
holiday entitlement;
the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime;
strongest wildlife protection in the world;
improved animal welfare in food production;
EU-funded research and industrial collaboration;
EU representation in international forums;
bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO;
EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty;
European arrest warrant;
cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence;
European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa;
support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond;
investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed.
It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980.
Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the UK should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multi-polar global future.


Simon Sweeney,
Lecturer in international political economy, University of York

Food for thought, whether you agree or not.
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  #306  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Cullis View Post
... Many people in the UK don't read newspapers...
Good! UK papers are owned by five anti-EU, right wing media billionaires: Rupert Murdoch, (Sun/Times), Barclay Brothers (Telegraph), Richard Desmond (Express) and Lord Rothermere (Daily Mail).

Murdoch is Australian living in New York, Rothermere lives in France, the Barclay Brothers in the tax havens of Monaco and Guernsey. All of them use tax haven entities to avoid UK taxes.
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Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every inhabited) continent of the Earth" 94% done! What's left? Central America, East, Central and West Africa, Australia & New Zealand
  #307  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman View Post
What did the EU ever do for us?
Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade;
structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline;
clean beaches and rivers;
cleaner air;
lead free petrol;
restrictions on landfill dumping;
a recycling culture;
cheaper mobile charges;
cheaper air travel;
improved consumer protection and food labelling;
a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives;
better product safety;
single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance;
break up of monopolies;
Europe-wide patent and copyright protection;
no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market;
price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone;
freedom to travel, live and work across Europe;
funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad;
access to European health services;
labour protection and enhanced social welfare;
smoke-free workplaces;
equal pay legislation;
holiday entitlement;
the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime;
strongest wildlife protection in the world;
improved animal welfare in food production;
EU-funded research and industrial collaboration;
EU representation in international forums;
bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO;
EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty;
European arrest warrant;
cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence;
European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa;
support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond;
investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed.
It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980.
Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the UK should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multi-polar global future.


Simon Sweeney,
Lecturer in international political economy, University of York

Food for thought, whether you agree or not.
Your reference lecturer has a project funded by
"UK Bologna experts are a European Commission funded team", from https://pure.york.ac.uk/portal/en/pr...b7a60a%29.html

Apart from that, his publlications are related to the EU aspiration for a CSDP (see his data in the University website for more detail) and a standing defence force.

"What did the EU ever do for us" implies that we are not capable as a nation: we can't possibly stand on our own because the EU does everything for us - see George Orwell, 1984 for more about that line of thought.

The figure of 57% trade with the EU may be out of date; others are quoting less than 50% trade with the EU - but, anyway, trade won't stop when the Germans want to continue exporting their cars to the UK.
It is the case that the other nations in Europe sell more products to the UK than we manage to sell into the continental market - in or out, we need to improve on our exports in the years to come to earn our way in the globalised world.

As one scenario (at worst if Germany refuses to sell its' VWs etc here) UK car customers would have to buy more vehicles from the Honda facility in Swindon, the Toyota factory near Derby or the world-beating Nissan factory near Sunderland.
(All owned by the Japanese).

Nevertheless, I am certainly prepared to read anything and everything over the next 4 months while judging, in the main, by what people do and not so much by what they say.
The discourse has only just started.
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  #308  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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It's all good for UK exports

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith1954 View Post
The pound (Sterling) is already tanking .. substantially over the course of just this past weekend. LINK

Plenty to talk about at this year's HUBB UK Meet then .. a few days before the Big R!

Too much excitement for one week!
Will I cope with it all?
All depends on if you are buying or selling.
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  #309  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Have to love politicians when they are campaigning

Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
Boycott Asda and Marks and Spencer is an easy call.
They have been short sighted enough to do the bidding of our PM, whereas other food suppliers have seen fit to stay out of the arguments.

This letter, printed today, is signed off by 1/3 of the UKs' largest corporations which leaves another 2/3 with enough sense to have some level of regard for their customers rather than pander to the government of the day.
Funny old thing, but our PM turns out today to talk to a group of O2 employees (who might have been better off at their desks, working).
O2 signed the letter referenced earlier, along with BT as just one more telecomms behemoth.
That's the same O2 that is 100% owned by the Spanish company Telefonica - no FUD factor therein was intended by our PM I guess.
It came over as another of the "safer, stronger, better off" speeches.
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  #310  
Old 23 Feb 2016
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Loaded dice

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Cullis View Post
during the Scottish referendum
Commentary elsewhere says that there was no exit poll for the Scottish referendum and begs the question of "why not?".
It is known that exit polls are by far the most accurate prediction of the likely result.

Something to watch out for with the next referendum.

Meanwhile, the UK civil service that is supposed, traditionally, to be "neutral" is likely to be used by the current UK government to state a particular case.
(the chief of the civil service has announced that it can't work for those ministers who take an "out" stance).
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  #311  
Old 24 Feb 2016
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Do we really need the EU?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman View Post
Don;t know but we've got a seat on the UN Security Council so trade should be okay.
I agree that citing the one of 5 permanent seats on the UNSC that we hold at present would have been better found under the heading of "sovereignty".

However, we do carry wide ranging influence that will certainly impact on how we can negotiate for anything in the future:

The Council of Europe for instance.
47 Member States


+ the OECD

+ the OSCE

To name a few more international bodies.
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  #312  
Old 24 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
I agree that citing the one of 5 permanent seats on the UNSC that we hold at present would have been better found under the heading of "sovereignty"...
So we hold it, even though we're in the EU? What's your point?
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  #313  
Old 24 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildman View Post
So we hold it, even though we're in the EU? What's your point?
We are a world power; much of Europe is not.
(We have held that seat from before we joined the EU of course).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
However, we do carry wide ranging influence that will certainly impact on how we can negotiate for anything in the future:

The Council of Europe for instance.
47 Member States


+ the OECD

+ the OSCE

To name a few more international bodies.
Diplomacy rules, in a sound bite.
However, the EU has aspirations to undertake its' own full-blown version of diplomacy backed up with a standing defence force and all the other accoutrements of a single nation state joined in ever-closer-Union.

Still, Lord Dannatt along with various other retirees from the UK military says it is all OK, so it must be so.
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  #314  
Old 24 Feb 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Walkabout View Post
We are a world power; much of Europe is not.
(We have held that seat from before we joined the EU of course)...
So, it's neither a reason to stay in nor a reason to leave.
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  #315  
Old 24 Feb 2016
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IMHO its a reason not to be scared of leaving.

Our G8 economy and supposed Nuclear supposed deterrent lets us choose between going out in the big wide world and trying to differentiate ourselves or staying as one of many in the EU. Belgium for example would remain swamped by anything France and Germany do, so having some sort of input makes much more sense for them.

Is the UK, or does the UK want to be, a Switzerland or Norway or do we want to be a Luxembourg or Belgium? We seem to have failed as a potential France or Germany because we don't play the EU games that well.

Andy
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