Viewpoint: UK will Exit EU with no deal

[Oxfordboy]

What I mean is you can discuss and debate all you like, but it won't change my view, especially with the kind of statements Hudswell is peddling. That's neither a discussion point or a debate. The Brexit result is in the past, so what's to discuss? Whether it's a good or bad thing? Who knows? Nobody. Only time will tell.

[kingfisher]

Hudswell- thank you for your post last evening @ 9.36.
You mention several very serious shortcomings of the EU.
Leaving aside opinions, one area which is possible [though not easy] to quantify is that of corruption, which you raised. In the nature of corruption assessments, recent figures seem hard to come by, but there is no reason to necessarily believe things are any better today.
I offer three links to articles in the Independent, the BBC and Euronews. These should be reasonably reliable, and as always, independent and unbiased. I hope.
The Independent. “Corrupt European Countries costing EU nearly 800 billion a year”
March 22nd 2016.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 944436.htm

From BBC 3rd February 2014
Corruption across EU 'breathtaking' - EU Commission
The extent of corruption in Europe is "breathtaking" and it costs the EU economy at least 120bn euros (£99bn) annually, the European Commission says. EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem has presented a full report on the problem.She said the true cost of corruption was "probably much higher" than 120bn.
Three-quarters of Europeans surveyed for the Commission study said that corruption was widespread, and more than half said the level had increased. "The extent of the problem in Europe is breathtaking, although Sweden is among the countries with the least problems," Ms Malmstroem wrote in Sweden's Goeteborgs-Posten daily.
The cost to the EU economy is equivalent to the bloc's annual budget.For the report the Commission studied corruption in all 28 EU member states. The Commission says it is the first time it has done such a survey.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26014387

And three years later, a report from Euronews:
Why won’t Brussels release report on EU-wide corruption?
By Chris Harris • last updated: 28/06/2017
Campaigners want to know why Brussels bureaucrats are refusing to release a report on fighting corruption.EU chiefs had promised to report every two years on how well countries in the bloc were battling graft. But, after its first report in 2014, there has been nothing.There had been an update scheduled for 2016, but this was scrapped suddenly in January this year by European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans.
Transparency campaigners say it was such a last-minute move the data would have already have been compiled.They have asked for the reports via freedom of information requests but the European Commission has so far refused their demands, saying it would have a chilling effect on people talking to them about corruption.
http://www.euronews.com/2017/06/28/why- ... corruption

[Firefly]

Oxfordboy

I would think that to 'revel in dismay' is similar to people who 'enjoy being ill'.

Jackie

[Lofos-5]

... The Brexit result is in the past, so what's to discuss? Whether it's a good or bad thing? Who knows? Nobody. Only time will tell.

Why is everybody always saying no one knows what will happen after Brexit - I thought it was crystal clear and will look like this Opinion piece by an Observer journalist that was just posted on the Guardian 3 hours ago:

The omens couldn’t be clearer. Chaos and catastrophe will loom as Britain edges closer to a no-deal scenario

Who knows how this will end as we move irresistibly towards a no-deal scenario? I can see skirmishes between British hauliers and border guards at every checkpoint in Europe. How long then before violence ensues? The Falklands conflict started in less fraught circumstances than these. How long before prime minister Jacob Rees-Mogg takes it upon himself to restore the glory days of the 18th century and empower a new East India Company, supported by opportunistic bands of state-backed privateers to annexe strategically important islands as advantageous trading posts? This will mark the beginning of what will come to be known as the Brexit wars: the bastard child of the war of Jenkins’ Ear and the opium wars.

In desperation, the new prime minister will seek to rekindle old alliances in the powder keg that is the Middle East while our mad former foreign secretary will reinvent himself as Boris of Arabia with predictably catastrophic effects.

Prime minister Rees-Mogg will seek to revive the indomitable spirt of old Britannia by issuing a rallying call to the country. In the long and bitterly cold post-Brexit winter that will ensue he will oblige us all to hunker down and embrace a more austere and frugal existence. It will build character, he will tell us. A period of martial law will be imposed just to ensure we all get the message.

I would advise us all to prepare for the Brexit apocalypse by making a few sustainable tweaks to our gilded lifestyles. If we all get into the habit of practising these now then we may be able to remove some of the sting from the oncoming winter. By doing so, we may be able to meet the Rees-Mogg, post-Brexit austerity demands head-on.

I’d start off simply by getting the NHS to issue one of yon NutriBullets to every household. I myself was gifted one of these miraculous contraptions recently. I’ve now got more fruit in my fridge than the man from Del Monte and have solved the problem of making that previously insuperable leap from five-a-week to five-a-day painlessly. The cost of these devices would be more than offset by the concomitant relief of pressure on the NHS. In winter-time, the addition of a responsible quantum of vodka or Bacardi into your NutriBullet cocktail would be permitted.

In the early stages of a Brexit winter, there will be many casualties and this may lead to a run on spaces at the cemetery and a great deal of social distress. I think we all simply need to take a deep breath here and get back to basics. I’ve always donated to bird charities and have lately come round to the idea of donating my organs when I die and having what’s left of me buried in a cardboard coffin in a verdant woodland glade. So why not combine the two ideas?

What would be the harm in perhaps volunteering to have your corpse strung up in your back garden so that the chookie burdies can fill their wee boots with what is left of you? Your loved ones would get to say a long, lingering farewell instead of just hammering you into the ground and departing after a few verses of the 23rd Psalm. And if you’re worried about matters of taste, well… isn’t everyone a lot less squeamish these days about rotting corpses thanks to all those zombie apocalypse films? They seem thankfully to have stripped away our irrational fears about human mortality and fleshy decay.

In view of the impending Brexit apocalypse, I think we are now all agreed that universal credit and the bedroom tax have been good things. I’d now go a stage further and compel all owners of private dwellings, under martial law, to fill their spare bedrooms with homeless people. Why, they could even be pressed into domestic service to ensure sustainability and sound economic outcomes.

Obviously members of the royal family would continue to be exempt because we’d need them to be in fine fettle to revive the spirit of the Blitz.


Now this is not what people wanted is it ?

A.

[kingfisher]

Sounds like the author of this entertaining fantasy-fiction had had a rather irresponsible “quantum” of vodka or Bacardi with his Nutria-bullet last night, or whenever it was he went on this “trip”.
Colourful, and lurid though it is, and quite amusing, I think it would have benefited from accompanying colour illustrations like the comics used to have, to bring out the “blood and thunder” to the full!

[Lofos-5]

It is of course fantasy-fiction and completely over the top but the fact that the government is apparently stockpiling food (and medicine) for a no deal scenario has just been confirmed as true :

Are stories about UK plans to stockpile food for a no deal scenario true? #Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab says it's an unhelpful "selective snippet that's made it into the press"



Reminds me of the situation where Qatar was cut-off from all its neighbours in June last year when the blockade started - luckily Qatar has only 3 million people to feed and extremely deep pockets (and some supporting friends) and the impact was mainly minimal when it comes to standard supplies (main missing items were chicken, diet coke, nappies, car spare parts, dairy products).

A.

[kingfisher]

These are not "stories" that have just come out- for over a week the government has made its contingency plans public. It would be reckless to not do so. Especially given the acrimony and intransigence of GCHQ Brussells – wouldn’t it?.

[Jimgym]

As I read the posts from Hudswell, Jackie, Kingfisher and occasionally Jimgym (the others have all quietly slipped into the background), I am reminded of the dictum that "there's none so blind as them that don't want to see". An express train is roaring towards them full tilt...yet they just can't see it. Clearly they haven't thought about the terrifying implications of a hard Brexit...and are still obsessed with some golden idyll of sovereignty, being able to make your own laws and being able to limit Johnny foreigner from coming to work in the NHS or the cabbage and potato fields of Norfolk.

With cultures so vastly different to northern EU states like Germany and France I find it amazing that Cyprus and Greece don't suffer the same delusion of sovereignty, nor have concerns about unchecked immigration from EU citizens.

The fact remains that the EU is the UK's closest and largest trading partner. Goods pass back and forth unhindered by border controls, duties and taxes. There is almost unlimited freedom of movement of peoples and goods between the EU's 28 member states. The EU is as solid, close and committted as it ever was, while the Euro remains robustly strong. The pound has once more continued it's downward trajectory and this weekend is under 1.12.

The UK is heading towards an abyss of unknown destination or size, perfectly encapsulated by the cartoon from today's ST (below); yet Brexiteers still think that the halcyon days of freedom, independance and countries queueing up to trade with the UK are almost upon them. Just how deluded can you be, while still staying outside the lunatic asylum?

I do wonder how deluded some can be, then I read your posts which are becoming increasingly desperate in their insults and I have the answer. keep telling yourself these things Lloyd, it won't happen but perhaps it'll give you some comfort. For your sake I dearly hope so.

[galexinda]

The EU is falling apart, just like a house of cards, so best for UK to get out - sooner rather than later.

[June]

Lloyd,

Quote...."As I read the posts from Hudswell, Jackie, Kingfisher and occasionally Jimgym (the others have all quietly slipped into the background), I am reminded of the dictum that "there's none so blind as them that don't want to see". "

Has it never occurred to you that you have become such a self congratulatory bore on this subject that no-one is really interested enough in your views anymore. As you say "there's none so blind......"

[trevnhil]

Lloyd,

Quote...."As I read the posts from Hudswell, Jackie, Kingfisher and occasionally Jimgym (the others have all quietly slipped into the background), I am reminded of the dictum that "there's none so blind as them that don't want to see". "

Has it never occurred to you that you have become such a self congratulatory bore on this subject that no-one is really interested enough in your views anymore. As you say "there's none so blind......"

Ha ha, June. You have hit the nail on the head, as the saying goes ..

[ApusApus]

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Shane

[Uncle D]

I watched John Major yesterday on Andrew Marr show, he said a hard brexit will be disastrous and will affect the less well off, more.
Lets hope that if it is what happens we will all, and that means our children and grandchildren have enough money to let them ride the storm.
He also said that all the promises made when Brexit was being pushed by Johnson and Farage are now impossible to meet and the government should tell us exactly what will happen.

[Firefly]

UncleD

As someone once said 'he would say that wouldn't he'.

[Jimgward]

[galexinda]

HIC, if you are basing your response to my comment on media interviews on one company boss and AG who admits he is a remainer, then not surprised at your views as it seems you are influenced not by facts but by opinions - trouble with fixed minds is that they're not capable of seeing the bigger picture.

[Jimgward]

- trouble with fixed minds is that they're not capable of seeing the bigger picture.

Haha.... perfect sum up of both extreme sides.....

[trevnhil]

It doesn't stop it all being incredibly Boring..

[ApusApus]

If only 52% & not 48% had HiC’s intellectual foresight ................ but hey that’s democracy in action for you!


Shane

[Lofos-5]

It doesn't stop it all being incredibly Boring..

It will sadly soon be more painful than boring ...