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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The key EURef: Whether Cameron can secure a deal that’s sal

SystemSystem Posts: 11,687
edited January 2016 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The key EURef: Whether Cameron can secure a deal that’s saleable

When Cameron gave his Bloomberg speech three years ago, kicking off his whole renegotiation policy, he set out a vision of the European Union he believed was fit for the twenty-first century, built on five principles:

Read the full story here


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  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    edited January 2016
    First.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    A good assessment of where we are.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    Interesting read, thanks. Surely the fact that even a big renegotiation effort on the eve of a crucial referendum has resulted in nothing will play very well for 'Leave' on the doorsteps.
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    Such a broad agenda needed more than one big speech if it was going to get anywhere.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    Though pausing for thought, I suspect we're looking at some expectations management from Cameron. I suspect it will be a weak renegotiation that will look good in the light of everyone expecting a disastrous one.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    edited January 2016
    Portillo hit the spot on Thursday's This Week. Regarding the "4 years no benefits to EU migrants"

    "This really is a complete irrelevance to the major things going on in Europe at the moment, and, by the way, it must be doing him a lot of damage in his credibility with other leaders; while they're wrestling with something which is monstrous, huge, we are talking about the end of the European Union, he is coming up with this tiny point about paying benefits to EU citizens"

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06zcmdh/this-week-28012016 (35 mins in)
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    However, while the EU hierarchy are myopic, reactive and deeply bourgeois, they are also not stupid. We are in the middle of an expectations management exercise. The trick is not to let your expectations be managed.

    The EU hierarchy want Britain to stay in the EU. So they have every interest in securing something that will help to achieve that. I expect the gruel will be slightly less thin than being bruited at present.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Cameron is probably the one thing making REMAIN such a firm favourite. Without him...

    The last few weeks have shown that Osborne is not in the same class as Cameron as a politican.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465

    However, while the EU hierarchy are myopic, reactive and deeply bourgeois, they are also not stupid. We are in the middle of an expectations management exercise. The trick is not to let your expectations be managed.

    The EU hierarchy want Britain to stay in the EU. So they have every interest in securing something that will help to achieve that. I expect the gruel will be slightly less thin than being bruited at present.

    Snap.

    He'll have something totally unexpected that may not even have been one of his 'demands' perhaps.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    FPT:
    Roger said:

    SeanT said:

    Roger said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Sean_F said:

    Cyclefree said:
    Jess Philips thinks the same things take place in Birmingham.
    It is undoubtedly the case that sexual assaults on women didn't start with the arrival of migrants. And if there were no migrants such crimes would still happen.

    But it is curious - actually, repulsive would be a better word - that those who claim to be concerned about sexual crimes against women are so sanguine about inviting into the country those from mysogynistic cultures and, as a result, with a propensity to commit such crimes (though that does not apply to all the individuals from those cultures, of course).

    It's as if such concern is only useful if it can be used against certain groups and that concern for women is dialled up or down - or into nothingness, in some cases - depending on the perpetrators.

    Repulsive.
    Have you ever visited any of these misogynistic cultures and could you share with us your experiences?

    Because so many on here agree with you doesn't make your brand of prejudice less repulsive. It just shows the level of poster these days
    I've visis.
    And you found misogyny in Egypt? I've spent weeks there many times and know many Egyptians and have visited the best night clubs in Cairo and the worst. Taken English models boys and girls and I've never seen anything remotely misognystic.

    Tunisia and Morocco yes but that's not culture it backwardness. It was the same kind of backwardness you found in Northern towns on drunken Saturday nights. I was with a Lebaneses friend in Soho when we saw two girls having a shit side by side on Bouchier St. He'd never seen anything like that in his 35 years living in Beirut and Istanbul. I was less surprised
    Backwardness, in many forms, is part of our cultures, not separate to it, we cannot excuse the negative things we permit in (though support or inaction) our society by saying it is just backwardness, and nor can other cultures. Public defecation and loutishness is also not the same as aggressive and violent misogyny of course, that should go without saying (which is not to say, either, that we are free of misogyny - making your claim to have never witnessed anything remotely like it in Egypt a little questionable to me but I've never been - but there are degrees).

    Good day all.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    edited January 2016

    However, while the EU hierarchy are myopic, reactive and deeply bourgeois, they are also not stupid.

    No, but they do seem to be incompetent (or at least, too passionate to play the game as well as they could, hence the thinly veiled contempt for anything populist, and dismissal of any substantive reform, which hurts their ability to allow Cameron to sell things as significant later) - they are playing an expectations management game, of course, but if they do so poorly, they could undermine their own game playing by miscalculating how much they need to assure supporters of the EU they are not giving away too much and how much of a bauble they need to offer Cameron (and how grudging they need to appear in doing so - which plays well for both him and them).

  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013
    And news just in... the Prime Minister has announced that he would like to replace the EU's sclerotic, inefficient decision-making with a multilingual version of the Heathrow third runway commission.
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    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,798
    EPG said:

    And news just in... the Prime Minister has announced that he would like to replace the EU's sclerotic, inefficient decision-making with a multilingual version of the Heathrow third runway commission.

    Better than an international Chilcott Inquiry type body I guess!
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    kle4 said:

    However, while the EU hierarchy are myopic, reactive and deeply bourgeois, they are also not stupid.

    No, but they do seem to be incompetent (or at least, too passionate to play the game as well as they could, hence the thinly veiled contempt for anything populist, and dismissal of any substantive reform, which hurts their ability to allow Cameron to sell things as significant later) - they are playing an expectations management game, of course, but if they do so poorly, they could undermine their own game playing by miscalculating how much they need to assure supporters of the EU they are not giving away too much and how much of a bauble they need to offer Cameron (and how grudging they need to appear in doing so - which plays well for both him and them).

    My father tells me that when he was at school, the woodwork teacher punished naughty boys (of whom my father was no doubt one) by giving them a piece of wood to plane down. Once the boy had finished planing, he was to give it back to the master who would cane him with it till it broke. If it broke before the master had hit him with it, he would be given a new piece of wood to start again. The object, therefore, was to get the piece of wood to a minimal thickness so that only one blow was taken.

    The EU hierarchy faces a similar problem of wanting to leave the minimum possible on the table without breaking the thing. Not the easiest judgement call.
  • Options
    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Based on broad cultural assumptions, I suspect British victims are more likely to report than Egyptian (as Swedish victims are more likely to report than British)
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    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    If a girl gets drunk and has sex w a man here but cant remember it, he could be done for rape, whereas in Egypt her family would probably disown her
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    High-information voters like PB readers feel patronised
    But the low-information voters who won Cam the GE may find this just the tonic
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    SeanT said:

    Though pausing for thought, I suspect we're looking at some expectations management from Cameron. I suspect it will be a weak renegotiation that will look good in the light of everyone expecting a disastrous one.

    No one is expecting anything. This is a classic example of the Smithsonian Fallacy (the idea that non-pbers are as wised up and interested in politics as pb-ers)

    Right now the euroref is of zero interest to anyone but us geeks. No one is talking about "the child benefits emergency brake" in the Dog and Duck.

    All you get at the moment if you ask questions about the EU, are emotional reactions based on party loyalty, and fear of migration - or lost business.

    People will only look at the minutiae of Cameron's deal, if they look at it at all, in the month before the vote. Cameron will have to pull a huge rabbit, out of a very surprising hat, if he wants to persuade swing-voters in large numbers to plump with REMAIN on the strength of his "deal".

    Any idea what that might be? I don't.

    As David H implies, the vote will be won or lost on Fear, Fear of isolation and decline outside Europe, versus Fear of migration, chaos and lost sovereignty IN Europe.
    Some sort of reduction in what we pay I think (if it could be pulled off). Something on immigration would be good but would actively deter the left wing voter and activist base. Likewise anything to do with 'protecting the city' or any diminution of perceived workers rights. But we all love a discount. For right wingers it is in the national interest, for left wingers it's more to spend on equality advisers. For ordinary people it's just good news. 'Do you want this crap product?' -'No'. 'Do you want this crap product with 10% off? -'Ok'.'

    Don't know how he'd actually manage it mind you.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited January 2016
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,607
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Official statistics on rape in the Islamic world are about as useful as tractor production statistics that came out of the USSR.
  • Options
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Bless the lass.

    If she thinks there are fewer rapes in Egypt than the UK... well, it's to be expected from someone as stupid and anti-patriotic as her.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    isam said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    If a girl gets drunk and has sex w a man here but cant remember it, he could be done for rape, whereas in Egypt her family would probably disown her
    There are many who don't report rape for a variety of reasons. The poster's on here increasingly remind me of the islanders in 'The Wicker Man'.

  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    A good deal of anti-Osborne briefing in the press today (Sun/Indie/Mail).

    His handling of the Google affair is yet another big misstep. Wait til his budget.....
  • Options
    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,344
    EPG said:



    High-information voters like PB readers feel patronised
    But the low-information voters who won Cam the GE may find this just the tonic

    Yes - the key here is how little most people are paying attention or feel even remotely interested, as posters right across the spectrum here report. That's why Cameron's package - and nobody who knows the EU has ever doubted that there is a package in the works which will be announced with fanfare and rejoicing - will swing votes, as born out by the polls. If it was something of great interest of people, you just wouldn't get a +15% swing based on whether Cameron recommended it or not.

    The danger for Remain is low turnout, as Leave supporters seem more motivated. That, I'm afraid, where Fear comes in. Expect 48 hours of "What a wonderful deal" followed by N months of Grim Warnings. We Europhiles aren't going to enjoy it any more than the sceptics.


  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,007

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

  • Options
    LucyJonesLucyJones Posts: 651
    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Bless the lass.

    If she thinks there are fewer rapes in Egypt than the UK... well, it's to be expected from someone as stupid and anti-patriotic as her.
    Excuse me? "stupid and unpatriotic?" Roger was replying to me, not quoting me. It's Roger who thinks there are more rapes in the UK than there are in Eqypt.



  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,007
    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013
    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    Keep this our little secret.

    You've worked out the upside for the EU from this referendum, and the reason why they are not spitting venom at the Prime Minister.
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    flightpath01flightpath01 Posts: 4,903
    taffys said:

    Cameron is probably the one thing making REMAIN such a firm favourite. Without him...

    The last few weeks have shown that Osborne is not in the same class as Cameron as a politican.

    Is that your version of expectations management?
    Being determined to believe something does not make it true
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    edited January 2016
    ''The danger for Remain is low turnout, as Leave supporters seem more motivated. That, I'm afraid, where Fear comes in. Expect 48 hours of "What a wonderful deal" followed by N months of Grim Warnings. We Europhiles aren't going to enjoy it any more than the sceptics.''

    The months of grim warnings will be accompanied by months of grim immigration related stories in the press. And the IN case will be exposed for what it is. A giant lie.

  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
    Unless we leave, and everyone else in the EU has to either pay a lot more money into the pot, or take a lot less out of it... then all of sudden people will notice.
  • Options
    LucyJonesLucyJones Posts: 651
    Roger said:

    isam said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    If a girl gets drunk and has sex w a man here but cant remember it, he could be done for rape, whereas in Egypt her family would probably disown her
    There are many who don't report rape for a variety of reasons. The poster's on here increasingly remind me of the islanders in 'The Wicker Man'.

    Posters, not poster's.

    Very few women in the UK fail to report rape because they fear their families will blame them - or even kill them - if they find out what has occurred.

    "Rape is also a problem within many families. This is especially so in more traditional parts of Egypt, Rania said, where “honour killings” may take place to redeem the family of the rape victim. In some areas of southern Egypt, the perpetrator is often a family member, perhaps an uncle, and blame is often shifted to the victim, she said. "
    http://www.irinnews.org/report/76827/egypt-are-attitudes-to-rape-beginning-to-change
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891

    EPG said:



    High-information voters like PB readers feel patronised
    But the low-information voters who won Cam the GE may find this just the tonic

    Yes - the key here is how little most people are paying attention or feel even remotely interested, as posters right across the spectrum here report. That's why Cameron's package - and nobody who knows the EU has ever doubted that there is a package in the works which will be announced with fanfare and rejoicing - will swing votes, as born out by the polls. If it was something of great interest of people, you just wouldn't get a +15% swing based on whether Cameron recommended it or not.

    The danger for Remain is low turnout, as Leave supporters seem more motivated. That, I'm afraid, where Fear comes in. Expect 48 hours of "What a wonderful deal" followed by N months of Grim Warnings. We Europhiles aren't going to enjoy it any more than the sceptics.


    When the media start getting interested and thus take the trouble to explore the figures it'll show that the amount of money Cameron's four year rule will save will be negligable. Quite what he does at this point to show it wasn't just a sham is difficult to know
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    edited January 2016
    ''We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them. ''

    I think Britain leaving the European Union would be quite high up their list of priorities.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,007
    Indigo said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
    Unless we leave, and everyone else in the EU has to either pay a lot more money into the pot, or take a lot less out of it... then all of sudden people will notice.
    The financial difference to the eurozone will be a lot less than I originally thought.

    We contribute about £15bn gross, and £7.5bn net. So our departure will "cost" £7.5bn that the EU will need to make up.

    But.

    Norway pays £800m, and Switzerland somewhat more than that to have access to common market. Realistically, on a per person basis, we would expect to pay a similar amount. So, say £3.5bn. That means that the EU will have a £4bn hole. Which is quite a lot, but compared to (say) the size of Greece's debts, it's a rounding error.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Of course not. Bloody foreigners.....
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Roger said:

    EPG said:



    High-information voters like PB readers feel patronised
    But the low-information voters who won Cam the GE may find this just the tonic

    Yes - the key here is how little most people are paying attention or feel even remotely interested, as posters right across the spectrum here report. That's why Cameron's package - and nobody who knows the EU has ever doubted that there is a package in the works which will be announced with fanfare and rejoicing - will swing votes, as born out by the polls. If it was something of great interest of people, you just wouldn't get a +15% swing based on whether Cameron recommended it or not.

    The danger for Remain is low turnout, as Leave supporters seem more motivated. That, I'm afraid, where Fear comes in. Expect 48 hours of "What a wonderful deal" followed by N months of Grim Warnings. We Europhiles aren't going to enjoy it any more than the sceptics.


    When the media start getting interested and thus take the trouble to explore the figures it'll show that the amount of money Cameron's four year rule will save will be negligable. Quite what he does at this point to show it wasn't just a sham is difficult to know
    I imagine he is betting the house on the most important bits of the media (i.e. the BBC) being such a bunch of Europhile metropolitan liberals that they wont think it decent to ask those sort of questions, in case they get the wrong sort of answers.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    edited January 2016
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3423968/Mobs-hundreds-masked-men-rampage-Stockholm-central-station-beating-refugee-children.html

    It will be interesting to watch IN scare people into staying when we are getting stories like this on a daily basis.
  • Options
    Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    FPT
    Roger said:
    » show previous quotes
    I was in Egypt in about 2005 and the big topic of conversation was whether or not a sentence of death on five teenagers who had raped two girls was fair. It was explaned to me that rape was so rare and the death penalty was so infrequently used that it was considered a serious issue.

    The idea that Egyptians who I know to be a hugely cultured people with years of civilization behind them should have a greater proclivity to rape than the alcohol fuelled English is just ignorant prejudice.

    -------------

    You forget the Female Reporter attacked in the square when reporting the Arab Spring? I'm afraid it is not as rare as you try to make out but if you stay in posh places then you won't have been aware of it except on a 50 inch plasma in your 5* hotel suite of course.

    Meanwhile you accused a poster on last thread DavidL of showing his prejudice by using the word " black" yet here you are 5 minutes later using the word " English" as in alcohol fuelled English not British or similar collective term. We know you hate this country but your utter hypocrisy shows yet again.
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    Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    Roger said:
    DavidL

    "The man brings his pals around to show off his naked girlfriend in his bed because she is black and that demonstrates how cool he is?

    What an odious little creep."




    It looks like you're allowing your own prejudices to show. No one has suggested he invited his friends back because she was black. Really suprised that one of the sites best posters could believes such a ludicrous story let alone find someone 'odious' on the strength of it.

    --------

    What like a dead pig story you mean........ Hypocrite.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Of course not. Bloody foreigners.....
    I believe some foreigners lie, other's are also not very nice. I know this causes a certain sort of cognitive dissonance in the Corbyn Tendency such as yourself, who think those sort of traits only apply to white Anglo-Saxons, but it is true for all of that.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285
    edited January 2016
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Of course not. Bloody foreigners.....
    Showing your prejudices again....You might not have noticed but Egypt had a minor uprising a couple of years after those figures, and one of the main causes was the fact the public were sick and tired of the likes of electoral fraud, widespread corruption and unemployment...Official unemployment stats were equally dodgy.
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited January 2016
    Roger said:


    DavidL:

    "The man brings his pals around to show off his naked girlfriend in his bed because she is black and that demonstrates how cool he is?

    What an odious little creep."

    It looks like you're allowing your own prejudices to show. No one has suggested he invited his friends back because she was black. Really suprised that one of the sites best posters could believes such a ludicrous story let alone find someone 'odious' on the strength of it.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/12130795/Revealed-Jeremy-Corbyn-showed-off-naked-Diane-Abbott-to-impress-Left-wing-friends.html
    “We were quite shaken. You know what it’s like when people you know both sides of break up – you have no inkling they’re going to break up, then suddenly they break up. So there was a bit of people’s surprise at that. It was [the] late ’70s, it was still a point of interest, a white man with a black woman, so he was slightly showing off: ‘I’ve got a new girlfriend, and she’s black’.”
    Nope, not the slightest suggestion there.
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv
  • Options

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Apparently there is a higher rate of kidnapping in Canada than Mexico.
    Why? Because in Canada a failure to adhere, post divorce, to a child's access/custody arrangement counts as a kidnapping.

  • Options
    Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Of course not. Bloody foreigners.....
    Your complete naivety in such matters particularly in these regions of the world is utterly breathtaking...... almost childlike, it really is.
  • Options

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Apparently there is a higher rate of kidnapping in Canada than Mexico.
    Why? Because in Canada a failure to adhere, post divorce, to a child's access/custody arrangement counts as a kidnapping.

    I would also suggest that going to the plod in Canada to report such a crime doesn't have quite such a high likelihood that you end up with a a load of lead in you.
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    Indigo said:

    Roger said:


    DavidL:

    "The man brings his pals around to show off his naked girlfriend in his bed because she is black and that demonstrates how cool he is?

    What an odious little creep."

    It looks like you're allowing your own prejudices to show. No one has suggested he invited his friends back because she was black. Really suprised that one of the sites best posters could believes such a ludicrous story let alone find someone 'odious' on the strength of it.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/12130795/Revealed-Jeremy-Corbyn-showed-off-naked-Diane-Abbott-to-impress-Left-wing-friends.html
    “We were quite shaken. You know what it’s like when people you know both sides of break up – you have no inkling they’re going to break up, then suddenly they break up. So there was a bit of people’s surprise at that. It was [the] late ’70s, it was still a point of interest, a white man with a black woman, so he was slightly showing off: ‘I’ve got a new girlfriend, and she’s black’.”
    Nope, not the slightest suggestion there.


    And he was still married at the time.

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    PaulyPauly Posts: 897
    edited January 2016
    So I'm just going to put down my referendum range calculations down:here for safe keeping...

    Assumption: The referendum will be before the end of 2017.
    Assumption: He will announce the date with 4 months. (He said the campaign needs to be longer than 3 months if I remember correctly.)
    Assumption: The referendum campaign won't cross over Christmas. Christmas is rarely a time for politics and I don't see any reason Cameron would try to conflict with that.
    Assumption: The referendum campaign won't cross over either German or French elections - they are too politically sensitive for concessions.

    Announcement Date - Vote Date - Detail
    Feb16 - Jun16
    Mar16 - Jul16
    Apr16 - Aug16
    May16 - Sep16
    Jun16 - Oct16
    Jul16 - Nov16 - Too dark low turnout
    Aug16 - Dec16 - Too dark low turnout
    Sep16 - Jan17 - Too cold
    Oct16 - Feb17 - ruins Christmas
    Nov16 - Mar17 - ruins Christmas
    Dec16 - Apr17 - French Presidential Election

    Jan17 - May17 - French Presidential Election
    Feb17 - Jun17 - too close to elections
    Mar17 - Jul17 - too close to elections
    Apr17 - Aug17 - ~German Federal Election
    May17 - Sep17 - too close to elections
    Jun17 - Oct17 - to close to elections
    Jul17 - Nov17 - Too dark low turnout
    Aug17 - Dec 17 - Too dark low turnout

    The next opportunity for a deal is February if things are running smoothly. My calculations give him at most 5 more months to get what he wants before he backs leave.
    If you assume the deal will only be finalized at an EU council meeting then he has only February, March and June.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
  • Options
    flightpath01flightpath01 Posts: 4,903

    However, while the EU hierarchy are myopic, reactive and deeply bourgeois, they are also not stupid. We are in the middle of an expectations management exercise. The trick is not to let your expectations be managed.

    The EU hierarchy want Britain to stay in the EU. So they have every interest in securing something that will help to achieve that. I expect the gruel will be slightly less thin than being bruited at present.

    Do you have a hot line to what is going on?
    The issues Cameron is talking about is more than 4 years before benefits payments (as Portillo claims) BTW, they are the list as per Mr Hersons article. The extension of the single !market for instance would be quite important for us (finance), not the contraction of it.
    Reform cannot be instant and would need treaty changes. Likewise the area of 'protection' from the Eurozone. It's hard to see apart from the benefits changes what can be delivered instantly.
    I imagine whatever result will be decried by those who have set their minds against the EU.
    The reality is will leaving the EU (with all the confusion entailed) and joining some associate organisation be any different from and staying in an EU where we have a negotiated different relationship with the Eurogroup members. And were would leaving help us gain a free market in financial services?
    In this respect all sides have missold underslold oversold their positions. The EU and eurozone will continue to exist for us to deal with no matter what and much of what is required by the single market will 'remain' whether we leave or not.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,898
    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
    Unless we leave, and everyone else in the EU has to either pay a lot more money into the pot, or take a lot less out of it... then all of sudden people will notice.
    The financial difference to the eurozone will be a lot less than I originally thought.

    We contribute about £15bn gross, and £7.5bn net. So our departure will "cost" £7.5bn that the EU will need to make up.

    But.

    Norway pays £800m, and Switzerland somewhat more than that to have access to common market. Realistically, on a per person basis, we would expect to pay a similar amount. So, say £3.5bn. That means that the EU will have a £4bn hole. Which is quite a lot, but compared to (say) the size of Greece's debts, it's a rounding error.
    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.
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    Moses_ said:

    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008...

    I stopped there. We really trust Egyptian "official" figures...about as much as "official" Chinese growth stats.
    Of course not. Bloody foreigners.....
    Your complete naivety in such matters particularly in these regions of the world is utterly breathtaking...... almost childlike, it really is.
    Roger doing a great job providing anecdotal evidence for some lefties claims that private education aint any better than going to your local comp.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
  • Options
    CornishBlueCornishBlue Posts: 840
    edited January 2016
    LucyJones said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Bless the lass.

    If she thinks there are fewer rapes in Egypt than the UK... well, it's to be expected from someone as stupid and anti-patriotic as her.
    Excuse me? "stupid and unpatriotic?" Roger was replying to me, not quoting me. It's Roger who thinks there are more rapes in the UK than there are in Eqypt.

    Apologies - didn't read the thread - thought "Lucy Jones" was some Grauniad journo, like Laurie Penny or whoever...

    Now I feel like a Grauno journo! :(

    Roger of course is the stupid and anti-patriotic (which is more than unpatriotic) one around here!
  • Options



    Yes - the key here is how little most people are paying attention or feel even remotely interested, as posters right across the spectrum here report.

    Yes. Nor do we know if there'll ever come a point at which most people will pay attention or feel remotely interested short of the date being announced.

  • Options
    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    I notice the Guardian don't seem to be outraged at all by these comments, but don't dare call a group of people a "bunch".
  • Options
    "And on that score, it comes down to whether the EU can mismanage the migrant crisis so badly that it overcomes the multiple failings of the multiple Leave campaigns."

    Based on my view of what has happened so far, I expect the EU to make it impossible to recommend "Remain",

    And I write as someone who is more pro Remain than Leave..

    The EU appears to be so diverse in its views on everything, that finding a common viewpoint on any difficult subject is impossible without diluting what is agreed to virtually meaningless.

    I expect to vote Leave if the current shambles continues.. and it is a shambles on the EU side- bigger than the Leave campaign . But the Leave campaign with all its faults does not actively encourage me to vote Remain while the EU which apparently wants us to Remain is doing its best to persuade me to leave.

    The EU make Jeremy Corbyn appear decisive and persuasive..
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,898
    A very good and fair piece by David.

    Cameron is going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat from somewhere, if he tries to dress up almost nothing as some amazing deal he's in danger of a leadership challenge from his backbenchers.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,931

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    I guess I am stereotyping, but generally when people talk about drunken loutish behaviour in city centre nightclubs etc its white people / chavs not baying masses of Muslim men

    Who did you think she was talking about?
  • Options
    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
    Unless we leave, and everyone else in the EU has to either pay a lot more money into the pot, or take a lot less out of it... then all of sudden people will notice.
    The financial difference to the eurozone will be a lot less than I originally thought.

    We contribute about £15bn gross, and £7.5bn net. So our departure will "cost" £7.5bn that the EU will need to make up.

    But.

    Norway pays £800m, and Switzerland somewhat more than that to have access to common market. Realistically, on a per person basis, we would expect to pay a similar amount. So, say £3.5bn. That means that the EU will have a £4bn hole. Which is quite a lot, but compared to (say) the size of Greece's debts, it's a rounding error.
    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    This is a good point that I have thought about myself.

    The other countries pay to benefit from trade with the single market, but our purchase of goods/services from the EU already provides a substantial benefit to them.

    There's no need for us to make an additional contribution.

  • Options

    LucyJones said:

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Roger said:

    FPT. Lucy Jones.

    According to official figures for 2008 there were 22,000 rapes in Egypt

    In the same year in the UK there were 87,000 which is the yearly average

    Bless the lass.

    If she thinks there are fewer rapes in Egypt than the UK... well, it's to be expected from someone as stupid and anti-patriotic as her.
    Excuse me? "stupid and unpatriotic?" Roger was replying to me, not quoting me. It's Roger who thinks there are more rapes in the UK than there are in Eqypt.

    Apologies - didn't read the thread - thought "Lucy Jones" was some Grauniad journo, like Laurie Penny or whoever...

    Now I feel like a Grauno journo! :(

    Roger of course is the stupid and anti-patriotic (which is more than unpatriotic) one around here!
    Are you going to start a petition to have him prosecuted?

    No ? Maybe you aren't that patriotic, either.

  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    SeanT said:

    And so it comes to this. Masked neo-Nazi gangs openly beating up foreigners in the centre of Stockholm. Last night.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20160130/masked-marchers-beat-migrants-in-stockholm-centre

    It's a catastrophe. The inevitable calamity of trying to combine social democracy with mass immigration and multiculti

    You are right, it was inevitable.

    Prevention is better than a cure you might say
  • Options

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    ... have you been to Broad Street ...

    It was her "my city is dying" line that got me. It's not. It's really not.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,394
    Excellent article David:

    "My prediction is that whatever Cameron comes back with will actually have very little impact one way or the other. There will be no metaphorical waving of pieces of paper and the campaign will be won and lost on almost exactly the same issues that it would have been had there been no negotiation at all, and by which politicians are advocating which position.

    And on that score, it comes down to whether the EU can mismanage the migrant crisis so badly that it overcomes the multiple failings of the multiple Leave campaigns."

    I agree with all of this.
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    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    Well, in Birmingham she could have tried an evening walk in Edgbaston, Balsall Heath, Alum Rock, Ward End, Sparkhill, Handsworth, Aston, Saltley, Digbeth, Selly Oak, the Mailbox, or or Broad Street. Only in Digbeth and the last one would she likely encounter those white aspiring flag wavers/white van types to whom Labour (as given away by the new Defence Shadow - the dreadful Emily Thornberry) feels so hostile. Surely, this is another nail Labour has driven into its own coffin.
  • Options
    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 18,828
    Sandpit said:

    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    Sandpit said:


    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    This is a good point that I have thought about myself. The other countries pay to benefit from trade with the single market, but our purchase of goods/services from the EU already provides a substantial benefit to them. There's no need for us to make an additional contribution.
    People do not give something for nothing. Telling people that they should give something for nothing rarely gives the desired result.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    I guess I am stereotyping, but generally when people talk about drunken loutish behaviour in city centre nightclubs etc its white people / chavs not baying masses of Muslim men

    Who did you think she was talking about?
    No idea, I've never been on a night out to Broad Street, and I can't say I'm tempted. I'd guess it's very much a mix, like the city as a whole.
  • Options
    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    viewcode said:

    Sandpit said:

    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    Sandpit said:


    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    This is a good point that I have thought about myself. The other countries pay to benefit from trade with the single market, but our purchase of goods/services from the EU already provides a substantial benefit to them. There's no need for us to make an additional contribution.
    People do not give something for nothing. Telling people that they should give something for nothing rarely gives the desired result.

    No they don't, but that doesn't undermine my point.

  • Options

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    I notice the Guardian don't seem to be outraged at all by these comments, but don't dare call a group of people a "bunch".
    Have we heard anything from those people who were so outraged about Tyson Fury's opinions ?
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,394
    edited January 2016
    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    Correct. There is an element of choreography here (both the UK Government and the EU want the UK to vote Remain, and they know some entertaining WWF moves are needed before one taps out) but, at the same time, you can't choreograph what you don't have.

    They know Cameron will recommend Remain come hell or high water, he's probably told them so, and the EU probably think the substance of the deal doesn't really matter in that as long as he can broadly map it to what was originally sought Cameron will be ok, as he's trusted.

    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.
  • Options

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    I notice the Guardian don't seem to be outraged at all by these comments, but don't dare call a group of people a "bunch".
    Have we heard anything from those people who were so outraged about Tyson Fury's opinions ?
    Cheer up - the Grauniad's going broke, sooner rather than later.

  • Options
    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    edited January 2016

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    ...
    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.

    ... and all reversible by the next Labour government.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,394
    SeanT said:

    And so it comes to this. Masked neo-Nazi gangs openly beating up foreigners in the centre of Stockholm. Last night.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20160130/masked-marchers-beat-migrants-in-stockholm-centre

    It's a catastrophe. The inevitable calamity of trying to combine social democracy with mass immigration and multiculti

    The Left will see that as a vindication of their desire to hush up any crimes or outrages committed by migrants, as it "proves" the neanderthal lynch-mob nature of the general public, thus it will exacerbate both the cover-up culture and the backlash.

    And so it will go on.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,465

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    Well, in Birmingham she could have tried an evening walk in Edgbaston, Balsall Heath, Alum Rock, Ward End, Sparkhill, Handsworth, Aston, Saltley, Digbeth, Selly Oak, the Mailbox, or or Broad Street. Only in Digbeth and the last one would she likely encounter those white aspiring flag wavers/white van types to whom Labour (as given away by the new Defence Shadow - the dreadful Emily Thornberry) feels so hostile. Surely, this is another nail Labour has driven into its own coffin.
    Thanks for the info (and BannedInParis), interesting to know.
  • Options

    Such a broad agenda needed more than one big speech if it was going to get anywhere.

    Cameron has a history of broad agendas outlined in a big speech which are then not followed up with action.

    The 'Big Society' for example.

  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,394

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    ...
    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.

    ... and all reversible by the next Labour government.
    You don't have to convince me. I'll be voting Leave, and will have a clear conscience.

    How about everyone else?
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,038
    Latest hot new for the US election:

    The little 'un opened an Economist and pointed at a picture of Hilary Clinton. Obviously that means she's going to be the next US president... ;)
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    edited January 2016

    SeanT said:

    And so it comes to this. Masked neo-Nazi gangs openly beating up foreigners in the centre of Stockholm. Last night.

    http://www.thelocal.se/20160130/masked-marchers-beat-migrants-in-stockholm-centre

    It's a catastrophe. The inevitable calamity of trying to combine social democracy with mass immigration and multiculti

    The Left will see that as a vindication of their desire to hush up any crimes or outrages committed by migrants, as it "proves" the neanderthal lynch-mob nature of the general public, thus it will exacerbate both the cover-up culture and the backlash.

    And so it will go on.
    I believe someone, who is about to be trashed on here, described the events that followed mass immigration as comparable to civil war...
  • Options
    JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,215

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    ...
    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.

    ... and all reversible by the next Labour government.
    You don't have to convince me. I'll be voting Leave, and will have a clear conscience.

    How about everyone else?
    Likely to vote Remain and will have a clear conscience as well.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,898

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    ...
    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.

    ... and all reversible by the next Labour government.
    You don't have to convince me. I'll be voting Leave, and will have a clear conscience.

    How about everyone else?
    75-80 % Leave now and moving further that way every week.

    Still holding out hope that the PM can get a deal, but as David said in the header most of what has been talked about previously doesn't even seem to be on the table any more, so increasingly pessimistic.
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    JohnO said:



    Likely to vote Remain and will have a clear conscience as well.

    Pretty certain to vote remain (barring unforeseen circumstances) and will also have as clear a conscience as with any other vote I've ever cast.

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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,007

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    Correct. There is an element of choreography here (both the UK Government and the EU want the UK to vote Remain, and they know some entertaining WWF moves are needed before one taps out) but, at the same time, you can't choreograph what you don't have.

    They know Cameron will recommend Remain come hell or high water, he's probably told them so, and the EU probably think the substance of the deal doesn't really matter in that as long as he can broadly map it to what was originally sought Cameron will be ok, as he's trusted.

    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.
    In some ways, I feel a little sorry for David Cameron. This was supposed to be a good year for a re-organisation between non-Euro states and the Eurozone.

    But Mrs Merkel's creation of the migrant crisis has meant that Eurozone leaders have other priorities. This isn't about them 'disrespecting us', or anything like that, it's simply they have much more pressing issues. If you are the government of - say - France or Italy: is your priority stopping and dealing with the migrant flow, or is it working out an equitable deal for the UK?
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    For those of us old enough to remember, the present so-called re-negotiations are reminiscent of the similar "make or break" talks concerning the fishing rights around our shores which took place prior to the UK originally joining the Common Market forty five years ago.
    The negotiations were then undertaken by Heath's man Geoffrey Rippon QC MP who was hailed at the time as having done a great job in achieving what was then considered a highly successful outcome for the UK.
    Unfortunately, history was to judge such events rather differently, evidenced by the subsequent decimation of our finishing industry, accompanied by the near destruction of our fishing stocks:

    http://tinyurl.com/zp7g595
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    isamisam Posts: 40,931
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    For Cameron to make this all about migrant benefits is at best odd, at worst patronising and insulting.

    there are far far bigger issues at stake on this our first chance to have a say about the EU since 1975 - in other words the first chance most of us have ever had.

    The EU's stated aim is to move to ever closer union. The question is are we in or out of that? It and all the associated issues are huge.

    It's NOT dole for Poles Mr Cameron!

    This transparently stage managed brinkmanship makes me more likely to vote to leave. Taking us for fools

    If it's transparently stage managed, how come Cameron is not coming back with any of the 5 things he was aiming for.
    Correct. There is an element of choreography here (both the UK Government and the EU want the UK to vote Remain, and they know some entertaining WWF moves are needed before one taps out) but, at the same time, you can't choreograph what you don't have.

    They know Cameron will recommend Remain come hell or high water, he's probably told them so, and the EU probably think the substance of the deal doesn't really matter in that as long as he can broadly map it to what was originally sought Cameron will be ok, as he's trusted.

    I expect some elaborate smoke and mirrors (a bit like Osborne's "halved the bill" nonsense) an announcement from Michael Gove on human rights, and perhaps one or two baby rabbits - like a 20 year freeze on free migration for new EU member states, or some such.
    In some ways, I feel a little sorry for David Cameron. This was supposed to be a good year for a re-organisation between non-Euro states and the Eurozone.

    But Mrs Merkel's creation of the migrant crisis has meant that Eurozone leaders have other priorities. This isn't about them 'disrespecting us', or anything like that, it's simply they have much more pressing issues. If you are the government of - say - France or Italy: is your priority stopping and dealing with the migrant flow, or is it working out an equitable deal for the UK?
    Asking people with cancer and AIDS to help soothe blisters your expensive new shoes have caused isn't going to curry favour
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,007

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Indigo said:

    SeanT said:

    Very fair analysis. The final sentence sums it up.

    I would add one more point. If Cameron's deal is so laughably poor - and it's not looking good at the moment - then that will seriously devalue him as a salesman. Every time he says Look I got a fivepence a week reduction in UK child benefits paid to Romanian plumbers living in Berlin, he will be ridiculed. Not just rejected, but ridiculed.

    If this is how little they are prepared to listen to us, when we are on the cusp of leaving, how much do you think they will listen to us after we have voted to remain ?

    I think isam has got this one absolutely right: to the average European leader struggling with dealing with Mrs Merkel's idiocy, Britain is a distraction. We are so far down their list of priorities, there are very few domestic votes in it for them.
    Unless we leave, and everyone else in the EU has to either pay a lot more money into the pot, or take a lot less out of it... then all of sudden people will notice.
    The financial difference to the eurozone will be a lot less than I originally thought.

    We contribute about £15bn gross, and £7.5bn net. So our departure will "cost" £7.5bn that the EU will need to make up.

    But.

    Norway pays £800m, and Switzerland somewhat more than that to have access to common market. Realistically, on a per person basis, we would expect to pay a similar amount. So, say £3.5bn. That means that the EU will have a £4bn hole. Which is quite a lot, but compared to (say) the size of Greece's debts, it's a rounding error.
    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    This is a good point that I have thought about myself.

    The other countries pay to benefit from trade with the single market, but our purchase of goods/services from the EU already provides a substantial benefit to them.

    There's no need for us to make an additional contribution.

    Norway runs a massive (ex-energy) deficit with the EU, and they pay. I think we'd deluded if we think they'll give us something for nothing. It is worth remembering that 45% of our exports (or so) go to the EU. While maybe 5% of the EU's exports go the UK.

    It's also worth remembering that the EU runs a trade surplus with pretty much everyone. We are by no means unique.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,898

    Such a broad agenda needed more than one big speech if it was going to get anywhere.

    Cameron has a history of broad agendas outlined in a big speech which are then not followed up with action.

    The 'Big Society' for example.
    The Big Society was at heart a good idea, and there's been some good things come from it such as the national citizen service and food bank expansion.

    It was also a fair-weather policy, devised before the recession.

    The major problem Cameron had was that those it would have relied on to work, such as charities and churches, had been so far taken over by the Labour-supporting left that they threw the whole idea back in his face as just being an excuse for heartless public spending cuts.
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    MP_SEMP_SE Posts: 3,642
    I wonder how the EU bureaucrats will achieve this:
    The European Commission wants to remove 'false associations' between the increasing number of some criminal acts and the arrival of migrants, documents show.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3423959/No-link-migrant-crisis-wave-New-Year-sex-attacks-Arab-North-African-men-women-Cologne-say-EU-leaders.html
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,151
    On topic, I don't think I agree with David Herdson.

    The actual issues involved are slightly technical and the voters don't really understand them. So what's going to happen is that something's going to be agreed, David Cameron's going to say it's a triumph, the skeptics are going to say it's a pile of pants, the media are going to report one side or the other according to their affiliations, the broadcast media will report both arguments, the establishment is going with Cameron, some ambitious high-ranking right-wing Tory is going with pants, and the voters are going to come away either unsure or thinking what they already thought to begin with.

    This is going to be what happens pretty much regardless of what the actual deal is.
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    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 18,828

    viewcode said:

    Sandpit said:

    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    Sandpit said:


    Why on Earth would we want to pay for access to the single market, when we have a massive trade deficit with it? They should be paying us.

    This is a good point that I have thought about myself. The other countries pay to benefit from trade with the single market, but our purchase of goods/services from the EU already provides a substantial benefit to them. There's no need for us to make an additional contribution.
    People do not give something for nothing. Telling people that they should give something for nothing rarely gives the desired result.

    No they don't, but that doesn't undermine my point.

    I thought your point was that the EU should provide the single market to the UK for free.
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    PaulyPauly Posts: 897
    Enoch Powell was right. Except for the minor details - it was never "Rivers of Tiber foaming with much blood" but instead "Streets of Cologne sticky with much semen."
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    Latest hot new for the US election:

    The little 'un opened an Economist and pointed at a picture of Hilary Clinton. Obviously that means she's going to be the next US president... ;)

    Well your lad doesn't yet have the track record of predicting winners that TimB's GSD does. So, full respect to your boy, but I'll stick with Heidi this time around.

    P.S. Reading economist to your offspring is not a good idea. I did it to mine, when he was a babe in arms and wouldn't sleep (to the background music of the Baroque masters, Mozart and Doris Day). However, it was only later when I found how dreadfully inaccurate many, if not most, of the articles are in the Economist that I realised that I may have done my son incalculable harm.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,038

    For those of us old enough to remember, the present so-called re-negotiations are reminiscent of the similar "make or break" talks concerning the fishing rights around our shores which took place prior to the UK originally joining the Common Market forty five years ago.
    The negotiations were then undertaken by Heath's man Geoffrey Rippon QC MP who was hailed at the time as having done a great job in achieving what was then considered a highly successful outcome for the UK.
    Unfortunately, history was to judge such events rather differently, evidenced by the subsequent decimation of our finishing industry, accompanied by the near destruction of our fishing stocks:

    http://tinyurl.com/zp7g595

    That's a truly excellent point.
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    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 18,828
    rcs1000 said:

    ...But Mrs Merkel's creation of the migrant crisis...

    I've noticed this a couple of times on PB and it seems to have gained the status of "accepted fact", but the cause of the migration isn't the EU. You could argue that Merkel has handled it badly, but that's not causal. Blaming the EU for the Great Migration is like blaming the dinosaurs for the meteorite.

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    Sandpit said:

    Such a broad agenda needed more than one big speech if it was going to get anywhere.

    Cameron has a history of broad agendas outlined in a big speech which are then not followed up with action.

    The 'Big Society' for example.
    The Big Society was at heart a good idea, and there's been some good things come from it such as the national citizen service and food bank expansion.

    It was also a fair-weather policy, devised before the recession.

    The major problem Cameron had was that those it would have relied on to work, such as charities and churches, had been so far taken over by the Labour-supporting left that they threw the whole idea back in his face as just being an excuse for heartless public spending cuts.
    And what do you think a Tory government should do about that? Only allow people to become ministers of religion if their politics are agreeable to expats?
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395

    isam said:

    Scott_P said:

    @TelePolitics: Labour MP faces calls to resign after comparing Cologne attacks to Birmingham night out https://t.co/04cd6U1yNv

    True Lefty Colours shown. When one of the groups they like to condescend are caught red handed, they have to smear the WWC #tim
    How do you know she's specifically talking about white people?
    Because, as a Labour MP, she wouldn't be talking about anyone else.
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,344
    edited January 2016

    On topic, I don't think I agree with David Herdson.

    The actual issues involved are slightly technical and the voters don't really understand them. So what's going to happen is that something's going to be agreed, David Cameron's going to say it's a triumph, the skeptics are going to say it's a pile of pants, the media are going to report one side or the other according to their affiliations, the broadcast media will report both arguments, the establishment is going with Cameron, some ambitious high-ranking right-wing Tory is going with pants, and the voters are going to come away either unsure or thinking what they already thought to begin with.

    This is going to be what happens pretty much regardless of what the actual deal is.

    Lol - pithy and probably true.
This discussion has been closed.