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Originally Posted by greenmanalishi
...Those old enough to remember going into what was then the common market will remember that that is what it was sold as... Quotas for steel production were imposed and not long after British steel went tits up... Our shipyards could produce either war ships or commercial vessels but not both...
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One of the first things we were taught in economics was that whilst the rules of 'supply and demand' were normally king, exceptions had to be made with strategic industries and the example given was steel. If there's a war and you have no steel plants you are 'up the Suwannee without a paddle'. Same applies to shipyards—we are a maritime nation after all.
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Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie
The thinking of the other states seem much closer even if it is a case of Germany making the rules, France ignoring the rules, Italy promissing to eventually look at the rules and Spain not knowing the rules even exist.
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Oh so true, but you missed the bit about Britain not getting to the rules it wants and instead having to obey rules it didn't want.
I also have an ill feeling about the power wielded by Angela Merkel who appears to be a rule unto herself. She unilaterally decides to throw open the borders of Germany to what we now realise are predominantly young male economic migrants, and then a couple of months later is trying to force other countries to shoulder the burden. WTF.
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Originally Posted by backofbeyond
Churchill offered the French unification between themselves and the UK when the Germans were invading in 1940. They declined but we could be living in unified "Frangland" or something at the moment had they taken up his offer.
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An ill-fated attempt to stiffen their spine. Nice bit of history trivia and not well known.
Churchill sacrificed the 51st Highland Division to try to keep the French going after Dunkirk and my father-in-law spent the next five years as a POW.
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