Spain, the country that offers visa's to Chinese for a modest investment (at one point it was as low as 160k euro), would stop Brits moving. I somehow doubt it. And I am sure Portugal would happily have them instead.
"In November 2012 the Spanish government announced plans to offer residency to those spending €160,000 or more on a residential property in Spain. The purchase threshold has now been increased to €500,000. Under a similar scheme Portugal has seen Chinese buyers flocking to buy property and according to one Portuguese real estate agent they have seen Chinese buyers generate €25 million in just two and a half months that would otherwise not have existed.
Residency in Spain will also be granted for spouses and children of the non-EU citizens investing €500,000,"
At one point it may have been €160k but that is moot, it isn't anymore.
Yes it allows it for those willing to spend €500k on property but do you think all Brits who go there spend €500k on property? That is approximately £400k, I suspect most emigres spend less than that on property, that is one point of emigrating there, it is cheaper.
This is for Chinese. I highly doubt the Spanish who has boat loads of empty apartments in towns that serve no purpose other than holidays / retirement are going to cut off Brits from buying them.
I think where the deal would be worse is healthcare. They are already picking up big bills for dealing with UK ex-pats getting old and sick. I would imagine they would demand UK citizens take out private health care.
Agree 100%.
The late, lamented, Tom Sharpe once boasted to me of how he'd travel to his Spanish villa whenever his British GP told him he needed an operation. "The nurses are so much prettier," was his justification.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
Brexit would negatively affect lives of millions, official UK report says
Cabinet Office says UK would spend years renegotiating trade and other agreements with EU and non-EU countries
Car manufacturing, farming, financial services and the lives of millions of Britons living in Europe will all be affected as the UK takes 10 years to extricate itself from the EU, an official report says.
The government’s first official analysis into how Brexit would unfold in practice says a decade of uncertainty would hit “financial markets, investment and the value of the pound”. It also warns that the rights of 2 million British expats to work and access pensions and healthcare in EU countries may no longer be guaranteed.
Written by civil servants in the Cabinet Office, and seen first by the Guardian, the document says that it would not be feasible to leave the EU within the two-year time frame stipulated by existing treaties. “A vote to leave the EU would be the start, not the end, of a process. It could lead to up to a decade or more of uncertainty,” they concluded.
The 10 years cited in the report includes the time it would take for Britain to exit the EU, to set up a new trade and related agreements as well as negotiate fresh trade deals with the US and other countries elsewhere. The document says they would only be completed at the end of a three-stageprocess that will be triggered in June if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Portugal took no time at all to negotiate the handover of Macau. How did they do it? They took the Hong Kong agreement, and used cut and paste.
Not saying that is how a post-Brexit UK should redo its trade agreements, but it is ridiculous - nay, an insult to the public's intelligence - to insinuate that anything but criminal negligence and incompetence would require ten years.
Errr: didn't the Portuguese start negotiations for handing back Macau in the mid 1970s?
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
Out of interest just done some googling in relation to.if you have to tell your insurance company about them. Apparently you really have to check the small print carefully. Some ask upfront, some don't but it is in the small print. And if it is either it will affect your premium costs. So just because the meerkat doesn't ask it doesn't mean returned searches are valid so to say.
Good point. I will let my broker know tomorrow. Having said that, my dealings with insurance companies on a professional and personal basis. They allow one speeding conviction before looking at premiums.
With 146 out of 158 seats decided, the current state of play is: Fine Gael 46, Fianna Fáil 42, Sinn Féin 22, Labour 6, Other 30 (Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit 5, Social Democrats 3, Green 2, Renua Ireland 0, Independent Alliance 4, Independents 16).
Obviously we'll have to wait to see how the remaining 23 seats pan out, but a few things are clear.
- Labour, as expected, have done very badly indeed. They have only two more candidates still in the contest, so 8 is their absolute maximum and they might not get even the 7 seats needed to retain full speaking rights in the Dáil. This is in line with recent polling, but is a big hit for Labour by any standard - in 2011 they got 37 seats.
- Fine Gael have done even less well than expected. My forecast was 57 seats, and it now seems unlikely that they'll make that. The recriminations have already started: they seem to have screwed up their message badly, and are being punished despite presiding over an impressive economic recovery.
- Fianna Fáil are the big winners compared with expectations. I'd expected them to get around 36 or 37 seats; they already have 42 in the bag and will no doubt get a good share of the remaining 23 which haven't yet been decided. They are clearly going to end up not far behind FG - a major turnaround from their cataclysmic 2011 result of just 20 seats.
- As expected, Sinn Féin are doing very well, picking up a lot of leftish protest votes.
- Of the others, Renua Ireland seems have flopped (their leader, Lucinda Creighton,didn't get a seat). The far-left Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit group is doing well and may well hit the 7 seats needed to get full speaking rights in the Dáil. The Greens, on 2 seats, will be relatively happy; last time they got zero.
Fine Gael look set to remain (just) the main government party, but on what terms remains to be seen. The decision as to who forms the next government is Fianna Fáil's. Fine Gael cannot form a government without at least tacit FF support.
Whilst a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition would of course make perfect sense, my hunch is that Fianna Fáil will bide their time, preferring to see a minority Fine Gael government. They can do this by offering tacit and conditional support but not entering a coalition, waiting for FG to become even more unpopular before triggering another election at the time of their choosing.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
Brexit would negatively affect lives of millions, official UK report says
Cabinet Office says UK would spend years renegotiating trade and other agreements with EU and non-EU countries
Car manufacturing, farming, financial services and the lives of millions of Britons living in Europe will all be affected as the UK takes 10 years to extricate itself from the EU, an official report says.
The government’s first official analysis into how Brexit would unfold in practice says a decade of uncertainty would hit “financial markets, investment and the value of the pound”. It also warns that the rights of 2 million British expats to work and access pensions and healthcare in EU countries may no longer be guaranteed.
Written by civil servants in the Cabinet Office, and seen first by the Guardian, the document says that it would not be feasible to leave the EU within the two-year time frame stipulated by existing treaties. “A vote to leave the EU would be the start, not the end, of a process. It could lead to up to a decade or more of uncertainty,” they concluded.
The 10 years cited in the report includes the time it would take for Britain to exit the EU, to set up a new trade and related agreements as well as negotiate fresh trade deals with the US and other countries elsewhere. The document says they would only be completed at the end of a three-stageprocess that will be triggered in June if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Portugal took no time at all to negotiate the handover of Macau. How did they do it? They took the Hong Kong agreement, and used cut and paste.
Not saying that is how a post-Brexit UK should redo its trade agreements, but it is ridiculous - nay, an insult to the public's intelligence - to insinuate that anything but criminal negligence and incompetence would require ten years.
Sir! Are you implying that the Tory leadership are criminaly incompetent? How could you? Never, and yet again, never should it be mentioned that they are incompetent, insane possibly but not incompetent.
Is that enough sucking up to get ennobled by Cameron and £300 each day for signing into the Lords in the morning and spending the rest of the day in the pub?
Lord Mervyn King examines the Eurozone (Economics for Dipsticks):
It is evident, as it has been for a very long while, that the only way forward for Greece is to default on (or be forgiven) a substantial proportion of its debt burden and to devalue its currency so that exports and the substitution of domestic products for imports can compensate for the depressing effects of the fiscal contraction imposed to date.
The inevitability of restructuring Greek debt means that taxpayers in Germany and elsewhere will have to absorb substantial losses. It was more than a little depressing to see the countries of the euro area haggling over how much to lend to Greece so that it would be able to pay them back some of the earlier loans. Such a circular flow of payments made little difference to the health, or lack of it, of the Greek economy. It is particularly unfortunate that Germany seemed to have forgotten its own history.
.... Germany faces a terrible choice. Should it support the weaker brethren in the euro area at great and unending cost to its taxpayers, or should it call a halt to the project of monetary union across the whole of Europe? The attempt to find a middle course is not working. One day, German voters may rebel against the losses imposed on them by the need to support their weaker brethren, and undoubtedly the easiest way to divide the euro area would be for Germany itself to exit.
What sort of organisation gets itself into such a long "no through road" and decides to keep going?cul-de-sac and decides to keep going?
Everyone has known that Greece should leave the Euro, except the Greeks. Immediately following SYRIZA's first election, they met with the IMF who offered them their full support through exit from the Eurozone. Tsipiras demurred.
Then following the election in Greece last year, in the negotiations with Germany and the IMF, Schauble suggested Greece depart the Eurozone. Again, Greece said 'no'.
Why did Greece say no? Because the Drachma was a disaster for the middle classes and the retired. Staying in the Euro is a disaster for the young, but because there are more retired people than young people, it is impossible to get a consensus on leaving the Euro.
Spain, the country that offers visa's to Chinese for a modest investment (at one point it was as low as 160k euro), would stop Brits moving. I somehow doubt it. And I am sure Portugal would happily have them instead.
"In November 2012 the Spanish government announced plans to offer residency to those spending €160,000 or more on a residential property in Spain. The purchase threshold has now been increased to €500,000. Under a similar scheme Portugal has seen Chinese buyers flocking to buy property and according to one Portuguese real estate agent they have seen Chinese buyers generate €25 million in just two and a half months that would otherwise not have existed.
Residency in Spain will also be granted for spouses and children of the non-EU citizens investing €500,000,"
At one point it may have been €160k but that is moot, it isn't anymore.
Yes it allows it for those willing to spend €500k on property but do you think all Brits who go there spend €500k on property? That is approximately £400k, I suspect most emigres spend less than that on property, that is one point of emigrating there, it is cheaper.
This is for Chinese. I highly doubt the Spanish who has boat loads of empty apartments in towns that serve no purpose other than holidays / retirement are going to cut off Brits from buying them.
I think where the deal would be worse is healthcare. They are already picking up big bills for dealing with UK ex-pats getting old and sick. I would imagine they would demand UK citizens take out private health care.
If all the Spanish cared about was getting the houses filled they could have dropped the threshold for the Chinese rather than more than tripled it.
The ability to decide on migration cuts both ways. They could easily for example pass a bill to say that Brits could buy a visa for a €5000 a year tax on condition of buying private healthcare.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Well, quite.
When Leave are reduced to claiming that the IMF and the entire cohort of G20 finance ministers are Osborne stooges, they've lost the argument.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
Can Mr Eagles Snr adopt me? My late father was a tax inspector. Sympathy is a little thinner on the ground.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
Hard to believe that Cameron had a Eurosceptic bone in his body,all pretend to keep his party together so he could be PM.
I fell for it and each day goes by with more bull from Cameron and the Government ,the more I dislike Cameron /Osborne.
Never again.
You mean that you do not believe in being pragmatic...... whatever might have been said in 2005 bears no relation to the situation today.. BREXIT. was a million miles away in 2005
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Well, quite.
When Leave are reduced to claiming that the IMF and the entire cohort of G20 finance ministers are Osborne stooges, they've lost the argument.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Well, quite.
When Leave are reduced to claiming that the IMF and the entire cohort of G20 finance ministers are Osborne stooges, they've lost the argument.
Given how awesome Osborne has run the UK economy, you can see why the rest of the G20 Finance ministers might be in awe of him, and would do whatever he told them to do.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
Given how awesome Osborne has run the UK economy, you can see why the rest of the G20 Finance ministers might be in awe of him, and would do whatever he told them to do.
True, but that's not the position of most of the Leavers!
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
I always knew that. But the reality is making Sindy look like some Socratic philosophy debate. It is ridiculous. One side lies and the other side moans. The addition to human knowledge is infinitesimal.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Well, quite.
When Leave are reduced to claiming that the IMF and the entire cohort of G20 finance ministers are Osborne stooges, they've lost the argument.
Given how awesome Osborne has run the UK economy, you can see why the rest of the G20 Finance ministers might be in awe of him, and would do whatever he told them to do.
I think Alanbrooke might need sedation after reading that post
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
Not been done in 20 years, although I still speed regularly.
Theories:
a) I drive a better class of car; the plod like to give bangers a tug, as it might lead to something else b) many fewer plod on the roads c) cruise control; I love setting it to the +10%+2mph as I drive through gatsos... d) I drive fewer miles
I'm certain the last time I was caught, the plod deliberately screwed up their summons, to permit them to let me off, with a nice letter which arrived on Christmas Eve...
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
I always knew that. But the reality is making Sindy look like some Socratic philosophy debate. It is ridiculous. One side lies and the other side moans. The addition to human knowledge is infinitesimal.
My own hunch is that 1) He wasn't expecting quite so many leavers on his own side, he was expecting to be facing Sir Bill Cash and Peter Bone
2) He knows Farage will use inflammatory and inaccurate fears on immigration to whip up a frenzy, and this a pre-emptive strike.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
Not been done in 20 years, although I still speed regularly.
Theories:
a) I drive a better class of car; the plod like to give bangers a tug, as it might lead to something else b) many fewer plod on the roads c) cruise control; I love setting it to the +10%+2mph as I drive through gatsos... d) I drive fewer miles
I'm certain the last time I was caught, the plod deliberately screwed up their summons, to permit them to let me off, with a nice letter which arrived on Christmas Eve...
I generally caught by the average speed cameras ones on the A616/628 or the mobile ones.
Between 2006 and mid 2011, I was averaging 30,000 to 40,000 miles per year.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Train. And spend a little bit extra (it's about 30% more) and go Premium Leisure.
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
A surgical colleague of mine was pulled over doing 90, and told the traffic cop that he was a Surgeon and had to get to the hospital immediately, flashing his ID. Not only did the cop let him off, my colleague got a blue-light escort to the hospital.
When he got there he parked rapidly outside A/E and ran in. Except it wasn't his hospital! He hid discretely for a bit then drove slowly home, which was where he was headed in the first place...
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Eurostar, book well in advance, you can get some great deals in non pleb class.
St Pancras is my favourite train station in the UK, so elegant.
This one is particularly exciting because it's the heaviest cargo they've taken to geostationary orbit. Now, PBers, does anyone know what is so special about SpaceX's fuel?
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
A surgical colleague of mine was pulled over doing 90, and told the traffic cop that he was a Surgeon and had to get to the hospital immediately, flashing his ID. Not only did the cop let him off, my colleague got a blue-light escort to the hospital.
When he got there he parked rapidly outside A/E and ran in. Except it wasn't his hospital! He hid discretely for a bit then drove slowly home, which was where he was headed in the first place...
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
A surgical colleague of mine was pulled over doing 90, and told the traffic cop that he was a Surgeon and had to get to the hospital immediately, flashing his ID. Not only did the cop let him off, my colleague got a blue-light escort to the hospital.
When he got there he parked rapidly outside A/E and ran in. Except it wasn't his hospital! He hid discretely for a bit then drove slowly home, which was where he was headed in the first place...
Doctors are a disgrace, if stories like that get out, the public will turn against you in the strikes.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Train. And spend a little bit extra (it's about 30% more) and go Premium Leisure.
Thanks, you too TSE.
Don't go abroad too often these days, only to see my eldest brother in the Vendee. We tend to spend our time away in Cornwall where my wife's family have a cottage, Center Parcs which my girls and my grandkids love. However this year we have booked Lake Garda and probably Paris as well.
Planning taking all my mob to Florida in a couple of years time.
Lord Mervyn King examines the Eurozone (Economics for Dipsticks):
It is evident, as it has been for a very long while, that the only way forward for Greece is to default on (or be forgiven) a substantial proportion of its debt burden and to devalue its currency so that exports and the substitution of domestic products for imports can compensate for the depressing effects of the fiscal contraction imposed to date.
.... Germany faces a terrible choice. Should it support the weaker brethren in the euro area at great and unending cost to its taxpayers, or should it call a halt to the project of monetary union across the whole of Europe? The attempt to find a middle course is not working. One day, German voters may rebel against the losses imposed on them by the need to support their weaker brethren, and undoubtedly the easiest way to divide the euro area would be for Germany itself to exit.
What sort of organisation gets itself into such a long "no through road" and decides to keep going?cul-de-sac and decides to keep going?
Everyone has known that Greece should leave the Euro, except the Greeks. Immediately following SYRIZA's first election, they met with the IMF who offered them their full support through exit from the Eurozone. Tsipiras demurred.
Then following the election in Greece last year, in the negotiations with Germany and the IMF, Schauble suggested Greece depart the Eurozone. Again, Greece said 'no'.
Why did Greece say no? Because the Drachma was a disaster for the middle classes and the retired. Staying in the Euro is a disaster for the young, but because there are more retired people than young people, it is impossible to get a consensus on leaving the Euro.
I have wondered that my self, however I found the answer last summer when a woman in her 20's from southern europe said her dream was to open a company to skim off money from the european development projects.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out. It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that ends up in the pockets of the dictator.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Train. And spend a little bit extra (it's about 30% more) and go Premium Leisure.
Thanks, you too TSE.
Don't go abroad too often these days, only to see my eldest brother in the Vendee. We tend to spend our time away in Cornwall where my wife's family have a cottage, Center Parcs which my girls and my grandkids love. However this year we have booked Lake Garda and probably Paris as well.
Planning in talking all my mob to Florida in a couple of years time.
Just don't forget your passport when you go on the train, apparently quite a few people forget.
If you're flexible with your dates, you can pick up some bargain flights to Florida, especially with Virgin.
If you get their American Express card, and spend 10k on it annually, you can get some decent upgrades/discounts.
Edit: It can be as low as 5k with their other card apparently
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
Farage was recently talking about the likely admission of Turkey into the EU within a few years, it seems quite a remote prospect.
This one is particularly exciting because it's the heaviest cargo they've taken to geostationary orbit. Now, PBers, does anyone know what is so special about SpaceX's fuel?
Is it fueled by Glens Bleck's special recipe? After all his claims are crazy anyway:
I have wondered that my self, however I found the answer last summer when a woman in her 20's from southern europe said her dream was to open a company to skim off money from the european development projects.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out. It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that end up in the pockets of the dictator.
While that may be a factor, Greece was not going to leave the Euro if it left the EU. Neither the IMF plan of 2014, nor the German one of 2015 was about more than the currency.
Currently a quarter of the Greek workforce is unemployed. If you are 26 and Greek, you essentially have two choices, leave Greece or be jobless. That's pretty f*cking unappealing.
On the other hand, if you're 60, with EUR150,000 in savings, then you know that leaving Greece the Euro will result in a 50% devaluation (at least). That's a pretty pig price that you, personally, have to pay.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Train. And spend a little bit extra (it's about 30% more) and go Premium Leisure.
Thanks, you too TSE.
Don't go abroad too often these days, only to see my eldest brother in the Vendee. We tend to spend our time away in Cornwall where my wife's family have a cottage, Center Parcs which my girls and my grandkids love. However this year we have booked Lake Garda and probably Paris as well.
Planning in talking all my mob to Florida in a couple of years time.
Just don't forget your passport when you go on the train, apparently quite a few people forget.
If you're flexible with your dates, you can pick up some bargain flights to Florida, especially with Virgin.
If you get their American Express card, and spend 10k on it annually, you can get some decent upgrades/discounts.
Edit: It can be as low as 5k with their other card apparently
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
Farage was recently talking about the likely admission of Turkey into the EU within a few years, it seems quite a remote prospect.
It's more than remote, it's ridiculous.
Accession to the EU requires the signatures of all members. Can anyone think of any country which might veto Turkey?
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
Farage was recently talking about the likely admission of Turkey into the EU within a few years, it seems quite a remote prospect.
It's more than remote, it's ridiculous.
Accession to the EU requires the signatures of all members. Can anyone think of any country which might veto Turkey?
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
Farage was recently talking about the likely admission of Turkey into the EU within a few years, it seems quite a remote prospect.
It's more than remote, it's ridiculous.
Accession to the EU requires the signatures of all members. Can anyone think of any country which might veto Turkey?
Only about 28!
And even if they got in there would be restrictions on freedom of movement for decades. That was the lesson to learn from other tecent applications.
The remainder of the Balkans and possibly Ukraine will be in before Turkey.
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Allow? He's demanding it!
My friend and I are still trying to work out where this 75 million figure is coming from, I'm assuming he was using Farage's dodgy figures from a few years ago
Maybe getting confused with the ONS total UK population projection for many years hence.
He was talking about immigrants.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
Farage was recently talking about the likely admission of Turkey into the EU within a few years, it seems quite a remote prospect.
It's more than remote, it's ridiculous.
Accession to the EU requires the signatures of all members. Can anyone think of any country which might veto Turkey?
Does Cameron still want Turkey to join the EU ?
He can want all he likes. A Cypriot politician that signed an a Turkish accession treaty would be signing his death warrant.
Today the Swiss voted on whether the country should be able to expel immigrants who committed relatively minor offences. (Less than assault. More than public indecency.)
Somewhat to everyone's surprise, the measure got defeated 59:41
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Ok chaps give this sad not that well travelled bloke the low down. I'm probably going to Paris this Summer to see Mr Springsteen at the Bercy, Eurostar or fly? Heard so much about St Pancras I think that would be my preferred route.
Train. And spend a little bit extra (it's about 30% more) and go Premium Leisure.
Thanks, you too TSE.
Don't go abroad too often these days, only to see my eldest brother in the Vendee. We tend to spend our time away in Cornwall where my wife's family have a cottage, Center Parcs which my girls and my grandkids love. However this year we have booked Lake Garda and probably Paris as well.
Planning in talking all my mob to Florida in a couple of years time.
Just don't forget your passport when you go on the train, apparently quite a few people forget.
If you're flexible with your dates, you can pick up some bargain flights to Florida, especially with Virgin.
If you get their American Express card, and spend 10k on it annually, you can get some decent upgrades/discounts.
Edit: It can be as low as 5k with their other card apparently
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
As someone who has accumulated far too many points in the past, you kinda get used to them.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day .
A surgical colleague of mine was pulled over doing 90, and told the traffic cop that he was a Surgeon and had to get to the hospital immediately, flashing his ID. Not only did the cop let him off, my colleague got a blue-light escort to the hospital.
When he got there he parked rapidly outside A/E and ran in. Except it wasn't his hospital! He hid discretely for a bit then drove slowly home, which was where he was headed in the first place...
Doctors are a disgrace, if stories like that get out, the public will turn against you in the strikes.
The story is true (albeit dating from the eighties). Though on a more contemporary note read this:
The government is not just trying to impose the contract, it is hanging NHS whistleblowers out to dry, and tacitly working on ending the EWTD for health workers.
I have wondered that my self, however I found the answer last summer when a woman in her 20's from southern europe said her dream was to open a company to skim off money from the european development projects.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out. It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that end up in the pockets of the dictator.
While that may be a factor, Greece was not going to leave the Euro if it left the EU. Neither the IMF plan of 2014, nor the German one of 2015 was about more than the currency.
Currently a quarter of the Greek workforce is unemployed. If you are 26 and Greek, you essentially have two choices, leave Greece or be jobless. That's pretty f*cking unappealing.
On the other hand, if you're 60, with EUR150,000 in savings, then you know that leaving Greece the Euro will result in a 50% devaluation (at least). That's a pretty pig price that you, personally, have to pay.
That's why Greece is so deeply fractured.
The greek money supply has fallen by almost 50% since it's peak, I doubt there are many with such large deposits left.
I stand by my case that it's corruption fueled by the EU developments funds and bailout money.
Around 15% of greeks are employed in the agriculture sector that's a lot of people taking a lot of money from the EU agriculture subsidies (enough for them to buy Porsches and Ferraris), a similar share are employed in the greek tourism sector that receives also a lot of EU development funds for lodges and hotels, also a large amount of money being given out to private contractors for public works which are also funded by the EU. And then there are government ministers and their families who also involved in all the above kinds of scams to get their hands on that EU money.
Spain and Portugal are the same, remember all those lavish projects in Iberia ?
Britain pays a large share of that, it's unfortunate that no one controls where the EU contribution is spent and if its spent wisely by other EU countries that get British money.
I have wondered that my self, however I found the answer last summer when a woman in her 20's from southern europe said her dream was to open a company to skim off money from the european development projects.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out. It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that end up in the pockets of the dictator.
While that may be a factor, Greece was not going to leave the Euro if it left the EU. Neither the IMF plan of 2014, nor the German one of 2015 was about more than the currency.
Currently a quarter of the Greek workforce is unemployed. If you are 26 and Greek, you essentially have two choices, leave Greece or be jobless. That's pretty f*cking unappealing.
On the other hand, if you're 60, with EUR150,000 in savings, then you know that leaving Greece the Euro will result in a 50% devaluation (at least). That's a pretty pig price that you, personally, have to pay.
That's why Greece is so deeply fractured.
The greek money supply has fallen by almost 50% since it's peak, I doubt there are many with such large deposits left.
I stand by my case that it's corruption fueled by the EU developments funds and bailout money.
Around 15% of greeks are employed in the agriculture sector that's a lot of people taking a lot of money from the EU agriculture subsidies (enough for them to buy Porsches and Ferraris), a similar share are employed in the greek tourism sector that receives also a lot of EU development funds for lodges and hotels, also a large amount of money being given out to private contractors for public works which are also funded by the EU. And then there are government ministers and their families who also involved in all the above kinds of scams to get their hands on that EU money.
Spain and Portugal are the same, remember all those lavish projects in Iberia ?
Britain pays a large share of that, it's unfortunate that no one controls where the EU contribution is spent and if its spent wisely by other EU countries that get British money.
Goodnight.
Only 50% has left. The Greek shipping magnates may have gone, but Joe Uncle has not.
Your points would be relevant if Greece exiting the Euro resulted in them leaving the EU. But as it was made explicitly clear through the negotiations (Schauble even called it a 'temporary' Euro exit to make it clear that Greece was not in any danger of leaving the EU), your points about subsidies are irrelevant. We're talking about Greek membership of the Euro, not of the EU.
Today the Swiss voted on whether the country should be able to expel immigrants who committed relatively minor offences. (Less than assault. More than public indecency.)
Somewhat to everyone's surprise, the measure got defeated 59:41
Yes, and a proposal to tweak the tax system to favour marriage was also (narrowly) defeated. The Swiss are wary of anything that seems drastic.
I have wondered that my self, however I found the answer last summer when a woman in her 20's from southern europe said her dream was to open a company to skim off money from the european development projects.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out. It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that end up in the pockets of the dictator.
That's why Greece is so deeply fractured.
The greek money supply has fallen by almost 50% since it's peak, I doubt there are many with such large deposits left.
I stand by my case that it's corruption fueled by the EU developments funds and bailout money.
Around 15% of greeks are employed in the agriculture sector that's a lot of people taking a lot of money from the EU agriculture subsidies (enough for them to buy Porsches and Ferraris), a similar share are employed in the greek tourism sector that receives also a lot of EU development funds for lodges and hotels, also a large amount of money being given out to private contractors for public works which are also funded by the EU. And then there are government ministers and their families who also involved in all the above kinds of scams to get their hands on that EU money.
Spain and Portugal are the same, remember all those lavish projects in Iberia ?
Britain pays a large share of that, it's unfortunate that no one controls where the EU contribution is spent and if its spent wisely by other EU countries that get British money.
Goodnight.
Only 50% has left. The Greek shipping magnates may have gone, but Joe Uncle has not.
Your points would be relevant if Greece exiting the Euro resulted in them leaving the EU. But as it was made explicitly clear through the negotiations (Schauble even called it a 'temporary' Euro exit to make it clear that Greece was not in any danger of leaving the EU), your points about subsidies are irrelevant. We're talking about Greek membership of the Euro, not of the EU.
Try to convince them, but I think they have merged the two into one identical thing in their minds.
Also the first post debate national poll (actually half before-half after), caution though it's from yougov:
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
REMAINers are the type of people wot would have gladly collaborated with Napoleon or Hitler if either of them had been successful in invading this country
I get so bored of this stuff. So Remain are exaggerating their case and politicians are playing fast and loose with the reality. Who knew?
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
Outside St Pancras Station last night, there was this chap dressed up as John Bull warning if we voted to Remain, Cameron will allow 75 million immigrants to move to the UK within the next five years.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
Remember those who said hundreds of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians would come to the UK and how they were ridiculed when just one person from those countries turned up at Stansted Airport on the first day? Well, those forecasts turned out to be accurate. Hundreds of thousands of them have moved here. (No apology from the false accusers I assume).
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
I went to Naughty Driver School in Virginia to avoid 3 points. It was all day, but highly entertaining. The only questions the instructors (all cops) got were along the lines of "How fast was the fastest person you've ever pulled over going.
Now this was in very (very, very) rural Eastern Shore Virginia (population of the entire county - 30 miles of the Delmarva peninsula - less than one fifth of those who used to work in the World Trade Center before 9/11) where there is one major road (Route 13) which is basically straight north-south down the backbone of the peninsula. It ends at the tip of the peninsula where it becomes the spectacular bridge tunnel:
The cops told of one guy they caught speeding going south at a very high speed. They gave chase, thinking they'd bottle him up at the toll gate. Instead, they clocked him going through at 137 mph!!!
Completely off topic. Got zapped for speeding last month, doing 69 in a 60 I have had to book myself onto a 'speed awareness course' today which costs £85. The alternative is 3 points and a fine of £100. Seems a bit odd to me that the cost of not taking the points is less than the cost of taking them.
Some people I know who went on those courses said it did make them change their driving behaviour. I guess unless they are completely cynical the organisers think the courses should have some effect. Otherwise, why are you running them?
I remember Iain Dale saying that they had that effect on him. Mine isn't until the 5th April. I shall report back to PBers my findings.
I'd take the 3 points.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
I've never had points before. The last time I got pulled for speeding it was 1990 and I got banned for a month. I blame evil Thatcherite magistrates.
I went to Naughty Driver School in Virginia to avoid 3 points. It was all day, but highly entertaining. The only questions the instructors (all cops) got were along the lines of "How fast was the fastest person you've ever pulled over going.
Now this was in very (very, very) rural Eastern Shore Virginia (population of the entire county - 30 miles of the Delmarva peninsula - less than one fifth of those who used to work in the World Trade Center before 9/11) where there is one major road (Route 13) which is basically straight north-south down the backbone of the peninsula. It ends at the tip of the peninsula where it becomes the spectacular bridge tunnel:
The cops told of one guy they caught speeding going south at a very high speed. They gave chase, thinking they'd bottle him up at the toll gate. Instead, they clocked him going through at 137 mph!!!
They did get him on the bridge though.
I remember to this day travelling down I-95 as a 15 year old staying with a friend of my fathers and his family. We'd gone camping to Cape Cod but the weather was so bad we drove down I-95 to Virginia and spent a week around Jamestown and Williamsburg.
I still remember being awestruck by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It was (and presumably still is) an amazing feat of engineering.
The greek money supply has fallen by almost 50% since it's peak, I doubt there are many with such large deposits left.
I stand by my case that it's corruption fueled by the EU developments funds and bailout money.
Around 15% of greeks are employed in the agriculture sector that's a lot of people taking a lot of money from the EU agriculture subsidies (enough for them to buy Porsches and Ferraris), a similar share are employed in the greek tourism sector that receives also a lot of EU development funds for lodges and hotels, also a large amount of money being given out to private contractors for public works which are also funded by the EU. And then there are government ministers and their families who also involved in all the above kinds of scams to get their hands on that EU money.
Spain and Portugal are the same, remember all those lavish projects in Iberia ?
Britain pays a large share of that, it's unfortunate that no one controls where the EU contribution is spent and if its spent wisely by other EU countries that get British money.
Goodnight.
Only 50% has left. The Greek shipping magnates may have gone, but Joe Uncle has not.
Your points would be relevant if Greece exiting the Euro resulted in them leaving the EU. But as it was made explicitly clear through the negotiations (Schauble even called it a 'temporary' Euro exit to make it clear that Greece was not in any danger of leaving the EU), your points about subsidies are irrelevant. We're talking about Greek membership of the Euro, not of the EU.
Try to convince them, but I think they have merged the two into one identical thing in their minds.
Also the first post debate national poll (actually half before-half after), caution though it's from yougov:
Comments
UK to be hit by giant meteor if Britain votes leave.
Plague of locusts anticipated from continent as EU/UK trade war grows.
Havering isn't Havering, we want OUT!
The late, lamented, Tom Sharpe once boasted to me of how he'd travel to his Spanish villa whenever his British GP told him he needed an operation. "The nurses are so much prettier," was his justification.
I went on a speed awareness course, it was four hours long, but like being stuck in a lift with some Scot Nats.
http://politicallymindedteen.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/camerons-shambolic-renegotiation.html
Having said that, my dealings with insurance companies on a professional and personal basis. They allow one speeding conviction before looking at premiums.
"Noted Eurohater chestnut admitted that UK likely hit by giant meteor in the case of Brexit."
I fell for it and each day goes by with more bull from Cameron and the Government ,the more I dislike Cameron /Osborne.
Never again.
With 146 out of 158 seats decided, the current state of play is:
Fine Gael 46, Fianna Fáil 42, Sinn Féin 22, Labour 6, Other 30 (Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit 5, Social Democrats 3, Green 2, Renua Ireland 0, Independent Alliance 4, Independents 16).
Obviously we'll have to wait to see how the remaining 23 seats pan out, but a few things are clear.
- Labour, as expected, have done very badly indeed. They have only two more candidates still in the contest, so 8 is their absolute maximum and they might not get even the 7 seats needed to retain full speaking rights in the Dáil. This is in line with recent polling, but is a big hit for Labour by any standard - in 2011 they got 37 seats.
- Fine Gael have done even less well than expected. My forecast was 57 seats, and it now seems unlikely that they'll make that. The recriminations have already started: they seem to have screwed up their message badly, and are being punished despite presiding over an impressive economic recovery.
- Fianna Fáil are the big winners compared with expectations. I'd expected them to get around 36 or 37 seats; they already have 42 in the bag and will no doubt get a good share of the remaining 23 which haven't yet been decided. They are clearly going to end up not far behind FG - a major turnaround from their cataclysmic 2011 result of just 20 seats.
- As expected, Sinn Féin are doing very well, picking up a lot of leftish protest votes.
- Of the others, Renua Ireland seems have flopped (their leader, Lucinda Creighton,didn't get a seat). The far-left Anti Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit group is doing well and may well hit the 7 seats needed to get full speaking rights in the Dáil. The Greens, on 2 seats, will be relatively happy; last time they got zero.
Fine Gael look set to remain (just) the main government party, but on what terms remains to be seen. The decision as to who forms the next government is Fianna Fáil's. Fine Gael cannot form a government without at least tacit FF support.
Whilst a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil coalition would of course make perfect sense, my hunch is that Fianna Fáil will bide their time, preferring to see a minority Fine Gael government. They can do this by offering tacit and conditional support but not entering a coalition, waiting for FG to become even more unpopular before triggering another election at the time of their choosing.
Is that enough sucking up to get ennobled by Cameron and £300 each day for signing into the Lords in the morning and spending the rest of the day in the pub?
Then following the election in Greece last year, in the negotiations with Germany and the IMF, Schauble suggested Greece depart the Eurozone. Again, Greece said 'no'.
Why did Greece say no? Because the Drachma was a disaster for the middle classes and the retired. Staying in the Euro is a disaster for the young, but because there are more retired people than young people, it is impossible to get a consensus on leaving the Euro.
The ability to decide on migration cuts both ways. They could easily for example pass a bill to say that Brits could buy a visa for a €5000 a year tax on condition of buying private healthcare.
I should have been banned but the lovely magistrates took pity on me. I lived in North Yorkshire at the time, and commuted to Leeds every day, a 120 mile round trip each day in a one man global warming machine.
Oh and thank Allah for cruise control.
A little trick I did learn, if your Dad's a Doctor, and you're speeding in his car after you've dropped him off at the airport, the cops let you off when they see the hospital parking permit, and they give you a gentle warming because they thought I was a Doctor.
So the difference between staying in and risking all these awful scenarios was the deal everyone says is a duffer??
Rather than winging about Cameron being dishonest etc Leave need to try and get their own story out. What are Leave offering? What will be the effect? Why is controlling our spending on agriculture and fisheries better than being in the CAP? Why is it better if we are not in the Social Chapter? Being realistic about it, how much less would we spend on buying access to the Single Market? Most of this is not hard, the answers are largely self-evident and favourable. But Leave is incoherent and unheard.
I am close to giving up. This argument is going to damage the Conservative government that I support. If people are not going to be serious about it what is the point?
In fact we have some more results in already, now:
FG 47, FF 43, SF 22, Lab 6, AAA-PBP 5, SD 3, Green 2, IA 4, Ind 16
When Leave are reduced to claiming that the IMF and the entire cohort of G20 finance ministers are Osborne stooges, they've lost the argument.
My late father was a tax inspector.
Sympathy is a little thinner on the ground.
This is not going to be a dignified debate
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/648136/John-Whittingdale-warns-must-take-control-back-from-EU?utm_content=buffer9b7a7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
You coundn't make it up.
Theories:
a) I drive a better class of car; the plod like to give bangers a tug, as it might lead to something else
b) many fewer plod on the roads
c) cruise control; I love setting it to the +10%+2mph as I drive through gatsos...
d) I drive fewer miles
I'm certain the last time I was caught, the plod deliberately screwed up their summons, to permit them to let me off, with a nice letter which arrived on Christmas Eve...
2) He knows Farage will use inflammatory and inaccurate fears on immigration to whip up a frenzy, and this a pre-emptive strike.
Between 2006 and mid 2011, I was averaging 30,000 to 40,000 miles per year.
Looking at the stats, the population of Turkey is close to 75million
When he got there he parked rapidly outside A/E and ran in. Except it wasn't his hospital! He hid discretely for a bit then drove slowly home, which was where he was headed in the first place...
St Pancras is my favourite train station in the UK, so elegant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpaoRP70lzM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpaoRP70lzM
This one is particularly exciting because it's the heaviest cargo they've taken to geostationary orbit. Now, PBers, does anyone know what is so special about SpaceX's fuel?
Don't go abroad too often these days, only to see my eldest brother in the Vendee. We tend to spend our time away in Cornwall where my wife's family have a cottage, Center Parcs which my girls and my grandkids love. However this year we have booked Lake Garda and probably Paris as well.
Planning taking all my mob to Florida in a couple of years time.
It's very simple, the greeks wont go because there they take a lot of money from EU development funds and there is a lot of corruption and skimming off the top of the bailout funds, I made an estimate that some 1% of the bailout funds go missing per year in Greece.
Until the EU cuts off the cash flow and the bailout money to greece, they will never get out.
It's like foreign aid to african dictatorships that ends up in the pockets of the dictator.
If you're flexible with your dates, you can pick up some bargain flights to Florida, especially with Virgin.
If you get their American Express card, and spend 10k on it annually, you can get some decent upgrades/discounts.
Edit: It can be as low as 5k with their other card apparently
http://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/vaa-amex/tell-me-more.jsp
After all his claims are crazy anyway:
https://twitter.com/katiezez/status/704076122087030784
Currently a quarter of the Greek workforce is unemployed. If you are 26 and Greek, you essentially have two choices, leave Greece or be jobless. That's pretty f*cking unappealing.
On the other hand, if you're 60, with EUR150,000 in savings, then you know that leaving Greece the Euro will result in a 50% devaluation (at least). That's a pretty pig price that you, personally, have to pay.
That's why Greece is so deeply fractured.
Accession to the EU requires the signatures of all members. Can anyone think of any country which might veto Turkey?
And even if they got in there would be restrictions on freedom of movement for decades. That was the lesson to learn from other tecent applications.
The remainder of the Balkans and possibly Ukraine will be in before Turkey.
Today the Swiss voted on whether the country should be able to expel immigrants who committed relatively minor offences. (Less than assault. More than public indecency.)
Somewhat to everyone's surprise, the measure got defeated 59:41
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2016/02/how-government-leaving-whistleblowing-doctors-twist-wind
The government is not just trying to impose the contract, it is hanging NHS whistleblowers out to dry, and tacitly working on ending the EWTD for health workers.
No I'm not either of those people in that picture.
I stand by my case that it's corruption fueled by the EU developments funds and bailout money.
Around 15% of greeks are employed in the agriculture sector that's a lot of people taking a lot of money from the EU agriculture subsidies (enough for them to buy Porsches and Ferraris), a similar share are employed in the greek tourism sector that receives also a lot of EU development funds for lodges and hotels, also a large amount of money being given out to private contractors for public works which are also funded by the EU.
And then there are government ministers and their families who also involved in all the above kinds of scams to get their hands on that EU money.
Spain and Portugal are the same, remember all those lavish projects in Iberia ?
Britain pays a large share of that, it's unfortunate that no one controls where the EU contribution is spent and if its spent wisely by other EU countries that get British money.
Goodnight.
Your points would be relevant if Greece exiting the Euro resulted in them leaving the EU. But as it was made explicitly clear through the negotiations (Schauble even called it a 'temporary' Euro exit to make it clear that Greece was not in any danger of leaving the EU), your points about subsidies are irrelevant. We're talking about Greek membership of the Euro, not of the EU.
Like Albert Steptoe and the frontman from The Wurzels topping the poll in Cornwall.
Also the first post debate national poll (actually half before-half after), caution though it's from yougov:
https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/02/28/3-4-republican-primary-voters-now-expect-trump-nom/
Trump 44 +5
Cruz 21 +2
Rubio 17 +1
Kasich 8 -3
Carson 7 0
3 way
Trump 49
Rubio 27
Cruz 25
2 way
Trump 57
Rubio 43
Trump 58
Cruz 42
So the debate probably didn't have an effect.
Now this was in very (very, very) rural Eastern Shore Virginia (population of the entire county - 30 miles of the Delmarva peninsula - less than one fifth of those who used to work in the World Trade Center before 9/11) where there is one major road (Route 13) which is basically straight north-south down the backbone of the peninsula. It ends at the tip of the peninsula where it becomes the spectacular bridge tunnel:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2d/cf/f4/2dcff4a09fcf16d0f62ca31965877ce0.jpg
To gain access to the bridge over to Fisherman's Island and thence to Virginia Beach, your have to pass through a toll gate:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2198/1620821640_517859f6ee_b.jpg
The cops told of one guy they caught speeding going south at a very high speed. They gave chase, thinking they'd bottle him up at the toll gate. Instead, they clocked him going through at 137 mph!!!
They did get him on the bridge though.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/eureferendum/12176875/In-or-Out-of-the-EU-Im-proud-that-I-dont-know-yet.html
I still remember being awestruck by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It was (and presumably still is) an amazing feat of engineering.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467795/Jude-Law-s-security-team-attacked-mugged-migrants-cameras-stopped-Hollywood-star-left-jungle-camp-Calais.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/education-35671570
Looks like we have a new officially BBC sanctioned PC term....just don't mention the reason for any bulging.
That's £10 I've most likely just thrown away.
First rule of mug betting;
Don't!