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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Alistair Meeks says that he EU is not as central an issue a

SystemSystem Posts: 11,007
edited February 2016 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Alistair Meeks says that he EU is not as central an issue as many right activists think it is

Last Monday, UKIP wandered into another of their controversies over gay rights.  Alan Craig, who has in the past called equality campaigners the Gaystapo and described gay marriage as being as bad as the Nazi invasion of Poland, has been selected as a candidate for the London Assembly.  Most UKIP supporters are frustrated by the fuss.  They don’t believe in a relationship between sexuality an…

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    Excellent piece. One of your best
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,961

    Excellent piece. One of your best

    You can't have read it that quickly :p
  • Options
    RobD said:

    Excellent piece. One of your best

    You can't have read it that quickly :p
    I read it last night.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited February 2016
    Imagine how good Joe Root is going to be when he's a fully grown adult! :-)
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?
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    SpeedySpeedy Posts: 12,100
    We've got results, from N.H.
    With way less than 1% in:

    Trump 24.5
    Kasich 24.5
    Cruz 24.5
    Christie 8
    Bush 5.5
    Rubio 5.5
    Carson 2.5
    Fiorina 2.5
    Paul 2.5 (write in)

    Sanders 60.5
    Hillary 32.5
    Greenstein 7 (write in)
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    Jeremy Corbyn will deny Labour veteran Jack Straw the chance to join the House of Lords because of IRAQ.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438831/Jeremy-Corbyn-deny-Labour-veteran-Jack-Straw-chance-join-House-Lords-IRAQ.html
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    edited February 2016
    Bah Speedy, nice troll :P
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    SpeedySpeedy Posts: 12,100

    Jeremy Corbyn will deny Labour veteran Jack Straw the chance to join the House of Lords because of IRAQ.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438831/Jeremy-Corbyn-deny-Labour-veteran-Jack-Straw-chance-join-House-Lords-IRAQ.html

    A good decision.
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,961
    edited February 2016
    Speedy said:

    Jeremy Corbyn will deny Labour veteran Jack Straw the chance to join the House of Lords because of IRAQ.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438831/Jeremy-Corbyn-deny-Labour-veteran-Jack-Straw-chance-join-House-Lords-IRAQ.html

    A good decision.
    I'll be surprised if he be gives out any gongs/life peerages (unless he has done so already?)
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    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,019
    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    There's plenty of evidence from elections in this country that moderate opinion will mobilise to keep power away from fanatics. The key for both sides in the referendum campaign will be presenting themselves as the steady-as-she-goes choice. This is naturally harder for the leave camp.
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    SpeedySpeedy Posts: 12,100
    edited February 2016
    Pulpstar said:

    Bah Speedy, nice troll :P

    Those are real results alright, from the midnight villages.
    With 37 people casting votes on the GOP side and 28 on the DNC side, that's way less than 1% of course of precincts.

    http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/02/09/the-first-votes-of-the-new-hampshire-primary-have-been-cast-heres-who-won-in-midnight-voting/
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    There's plenty of evidence from elections in this country that moderate opinion will mobilise to keep power away from fanatics. The key for both sides in the referendum campaign will be presenting themselves as the steady-as-she-goes choice. This is naturally harder for the leave camp.
    You wouldn't be a REMAINer by any vague chance ?
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    RobDRobD Posts: 58,961
    On topic, was Europe really that important in the late 90s? I suppose it was the discussion of joining the Euro.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    Substituting "sovereignty" for "the EU" in much of this piece illustrates the fallacy of your premise.
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    Top-notch Mr Meeks, - political nerds do have a problem with stepping back from the fray in order to see things more clearly, - I don’t see things improving much before the referendum.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited February 2016

    Top-notch Mr Meeks, - political nerds do have a problem with stepping back from the fray in order to see things more clearly, - I don’t see things improving much before the referendum.

    Prey tell, where does Immigration come in this list at the moment ? Top ? This is continuously trotted out here, followed by all the usual suspects trying to claim that all sorts of things that the public care deeply about actually have nothing to do with the EU, when they actually have almost everything to do with the EU.
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    Indigo said:

    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    There's plenty of evidence from elections in this country that moderate opinion will mobilise to keep power away from fanatics. The key for both sides in the referendum campaign will be presenting themselves as the steady-as-she-goes choice. This is naturally harder for the leave camp.
    You wouldn't be a REMAINer by any vague chance ?
    Who knows. Do you disagree with the point he makes?
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    On topic, I've just had lunch with a committed, passionate leaver friend.

    He was very frustrated by Leave and Dave's comment about immigration/France was his way of framing the debate, and Leave not being at the races.

    He said Leave needs to stop looking like a bunch of angry white men obsessed about immigration and Muslims.

    He said Leave really needs to be led by a charismatic and articulate non white Muslim chap, then asked me if I knew anyone like that. The git.
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,153
    Interesting article.

    One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    Cyclefree said:

    Interesting article.

    One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.

    It would mean being handed all 22,000 pages of MiFIDs II-V and being told to get on with it.
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584

    On Topic: Yeahbut.

    This poll is unprompted so will naturally come out with issues more directly concerning people. I could think of 3 points/issues that face Britain which are (apparently) more immediate than the EU.

    I agree with your conclusion, and whichever side can chime with voters with the simplest message will probably win.
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,153
    Speedy said:

    Jeremy Corbyn will deny Labour veteran Jack Straw the chance to join the House of Lords because of IRAQ.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438831/Jeremy-Corbyn-deny-Labour-veteran-Jack-Straw-chance-join-House-Lords-IRAQ.html

    A good decision.
    Yes - Straw was very silly. He really should have spent more time cosying up to Hamas, the IRA and anti-Semites instead.

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    runnymederunnymede Posts: 2,536
    I must have read essentially the same article, with the same graph, on this site, numerous times.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,893
    Excellent article thanks, Mr Meeks.

    Whichever way the vote goes in a few months, life will continue. The Earth will continue revolving around the Sun. People will be worried about their jobs, or where their kids will go to school. Some will be undergoing cancer treatment, and others will be daydreaming about holidays.

    Most people don't care about the EU.
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    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    guardian reporting that Two tennis umpires have been banned for gambling allegations.

    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/09/revealed-tennis-umpires-secretly-banned-gambling-scam
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    FPT

    Mr AlanBrooke said, "Because I was waiting for some tribal gombeen to claim boom and bust had been abolished."

    I haven't heard the term "Gombeen" for many, many years, but there again it is more than twenty years since I was last in Ulster. However, unless my memory has failed completely, "Gombeen" is/was an irish name for what we would call today a loan shark, a role which in Ulster was taken over by the paramilitaries on both sides.

    Mr. AlanBrooke's use of the term is therefore an even bigger and multilevel insult than a casual reading might suggest. Was that his intention or did he just start on it early today?
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    SpeedySpeedy Posts: 12,100
    Here you go people, N.H. results coming in complete with map:

    http://www.decisiondeskhq.com/

    Of course it's another 12 hours before most precincts close.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited February 2016
    Alistair said:

    guardian reporting that Two tennis umpires have been banned for gambling allegations.

    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/feb/09/revealed-tennis-umpires-secretly-banned-gambling-scam

    Wow....although in terms of umpires delaying score updates, this is just an extension of the data time gap which legit big time gambler have been exploiting via real life scouts called "courtsiders".

    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32402945
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966

    Most people don't care about the EU.

    And lots care about immigration, and so for some strange reason Dave is killing himself to make the EU referendum (an issue the public supposedly don't care about) all about immigration (an issue they very much care about) and the hordes taking over our villages in Kent. Funny old world.

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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,187
    Mr Meeks,

    Gay rights and Northern Ireland are important issues. But we're not about to have a referendum on those subjects.

    You may not like the fact that Dave thought that promising an in-out referendum was the right thing to do for the country and/or his party. You may not like the fact that the Tories won a majority government at the last election (Dave might not like it much either!).

    But the reality is that at some point - probably quite soon - the issue of our membership of the EU will be in the hands of British public. Not well to do lawyers, not politicians, but everyday people.

    This referendum is happening, I suggest you deal with it.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    edited February 2016
    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
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    On topic, I've just had lunch with a committed, passionate leaver friend.

    He was very frustrated by Leave and Dave's comment about immigration/France was his way of framing the debate, and Leave not being at the races.

    He said Leave needs to stop looking like a bunch of angry white men obsessed about immigration and Muslims.

    He said Leave really needs to be led by a charismatic and articulate non white Muslim chap, then asked me if I knew anyone like that. The git.

    The Leave Campaign does tend to attract gits ;-) (Present company excepted)
    A few of the more well known ones tend to also believe in Homeopathy and be Climate Change deniers.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10089986/Ukip-are-outflanking-us-on-herbal-medicine-says-homeopathy-MP.html
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    What a brilliant idea. We need more plebiscites.

    @georgeeaton: One way for Corbyn to try and dampen Trident divisions: propose a national referendum.
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    Joe Root now has as many ODI hundreds in the last year as Ian Bell got in 161 ODIs.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903
    Issues facing the country:

    Health, Jobs, Economy, immigration,...... EU

    Issues facing Politicalbetting.com

    New Hampshire,.............................................. EU
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    No. But we can;t do that now, inside the EU. We have no control. And we still have to accept imposed rules.

    An independent UK (outside the EEA) could impose its own rules on its own financial markets.
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    tlg86 said:

    Mr Meeks,

    Gay rights and Northern Ireland are important issues. But we're not about to have a referendum on those subjects.

    You may not like the fact that Dave thought that promising an in-out referendum was the right thing to do for the country and/or his party. You may not like the fact that the Tories won a majority government at the last election (Dave might not like it much either!).

    But the reality is that at some point - probably quite soon - the issue of our membership of the EU will be in the hands of British public. Not well to do lawyers, not politicians, but everyday people.

    This referendum is happening, I suggest you deal with it.

    You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension. I'm all in favour of this referendum being held.
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    Pulpstar said:

    Issues facing the country:

    Health, Jobs, Economy, immigration,...... EU

    Issues facing Politicalbetting.com

    New Hampshire,.............................................. EU

    Deadpool and New Hampshire for me.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,799
    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.
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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,187

    tlg86 said:

    Mr Meeks,

    Gay rights and Northern Ireland are important issues. But we're not about to have a referendum on those subjects.

    You may not like the fact that Dave thought that promising an in-out referendum was the right thing to do for the country and/or his party. You may not like the fact that the Tories won a majority government at the last election (Dave might not like it much either!).

    But the reality is that at some point - probably quite soon - the issue of our membership of the EU will be in the hands of British public. Not well to do lawyers, not politicians, but everyday people.

    This referendum is happening, I suggest you deal with it.

    You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension. I'm all in favour of this referendum being held.
    You could have fooled me.
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    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    Excellent article thanks, Mr Meeks.

    Whichever way the vote goes in a few months, life will continue. The Earth will continue revolving around the Sun. People will be worried about their jobs, or where their kids will go to school. Some will be undergoing cancer treatment, and others will be daydreaming about holidays.

    Most people don't care about the EU.

    Mr. Jessop, you seem to be falling into what I call the Smithson fallacy. Lots of things that really do worry ordinary people, like school places/education quality, like adequate health care, like the children/grandchildren's future are tied up with the EU. The fact that most people do not list the EU as high in their list of worries does not mean that they are relaxed about the effects of membership.
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    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,153

    What a brilliant idea. We need more plebiscites.

    @georgeeaton: One way for Corbyn to try and dampen Trident divisions: propose a national referendum.


    And even if the country voted in favour of Trident Corbyn has already said that he would never use it. So what would be the point? Labour led by Corbyn are a unilateralist party.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    taffys said:

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    No. But we can;t do that now, inside the EU. We have no control. And we still have to accept imposed rules.

    An independent UK (outside the EEA) could impose its own rules on its own financial markets.

    The UK lobbies hard for changes and drafting of the rules atm. Just ask Kay Swinburne.
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    Jesus what a shot from Stokes...
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    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

    Oh, some people care. Disproportionately, the rightwing politically active are obsessed by the subject. David Cameron had to keep the backbenches in some form of order and pledging a referendum was the price he had to pay.

    I'm sure that Roman emperors had to pay close attention and indulge the hobby horses of the praetorian guard. That doesn't mean that the plebs shared the same obsessions.
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

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    I suppose it was inevitable, but it's disappointing that the perceptive last four paragraphs of Alastair's piece are being largely ignored.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,799

    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

    Oh, some people care. Disproportionately, the rightwing politically active are obsessed by the subject. David Cameron had to keep the backbenches in some form of order and pledging a referendum was the price he had to pay.

    I'm sure that Roman emperors had to pay close attention and indulge the hobby horses of the praetorian guard. That doesn't mean that the plebs shared the same obsessions.
    In that case then, enough people who are able make waves over the issue care about it.

    To continue your analogy, if I were a Roman Emperor who'd pissed off the Guard "nobody cares" would be pretty cold comfort.
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    geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,135
    There is no status quo option. That should be hammered home by leavers.

    And absence of credible “leadership” is not necessarily a problem. They just need to play nice. Events in Europe and Cameron’s risible renegotiation make an adequate case for Leave among the undecided who would otherwise go “meh”.
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

    The City could set any agenda it wants but if you think it could get in the way of eg. MiFID you have not thought it through.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    edited February 2016
    Fpt

    Sums my view up http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/camerons-eu-campaign-is-negative-stupid-and-likely-to-win/

    Here we go again. According to today’s Daily Express, leaving the European Union is the only way to ‘save the NHS’. According to the Prime Minister, remaining a member of the european club is the only way to guarantee the United Kingdom’s security.

    I suppose it is too much to hope that everyone, on both sides of this increasingly-wearisome argument, will pipe down and cease being so damn stupid? Of course it is. We will be stuck with more – much more – of this until such time as the bleedin’ poll is called and held. This may be the best reason for having the referendum as soon as possible.

    I'd add this for the Horsemen reference https://youtu.be/1I4nFgMuciU
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    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

    Oh, some people care. Disproportionately, the rightwing politically active are obsessed by the subject. David Cameron had to keep the backbenches in some form of order and pledging a referendum was the price he had to pay.

    I'm sure that Roman emperors had to pay close attention and indulge the hobby horses of the praetorian guard. That doesn't mean that the plebs shared the same obsessions.
    Round objects.

    c.50% of "the plebs" want to Leave.

    You are a fantastically insightful political punter with a huge amount of wisdom to offer this site but, I'm afraid, on subjects like the EU you are just far too emotionally invested and talk a lot of nonsense.

    Mostly driven by the fact that those that oppose it are people you viscerally dislike.
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    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    It's funny: the ones who tell us that 'no-one cares about the EU' always tend to be the ones most keen on us staying in it.

    Coincidence?
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    Stokes at it again....
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    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,287
    Clever marketing on Shrove Tuesday from Bath & NE Somerset Council.

    https://twitter.com/bathnes/status/696997226464280576
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    How unlucky was Joe Root there
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    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903

    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    It's funny: the ones who tell us that 'no-one cares about the EU' always tend to be the ones most keen on us staying in it.

    Coincidence?
    @Alastair says he is undecided, I have no reason to disbelieve him.

    I'd hope anyone who says they're undecided to genuinely be so and not just appear to be so for the sake of trolling others. I certainly don't believe this is the case with Mr Meeks.
  • Options
    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

    The City could set any agenda it wants but if you think it could get in the way of eg. MiFID you have not thought it through.

    The nature of finance means that the City (from it's pre-eminient position) can in fact parallel EU financial products and take control, and there's nothing they can do about it.

  • Options
    tlg86 said:

    Mr Meeks,

    Gay rights and Northern Ireland are important issues. But we're not about to have a referendum on those subjects.

    You may not like the fact that Dave thought that promising an in-out referendum was the right thing to do for the country and/or his party. You may not like the fact that the Tories won a majority government at the last election (Dave might not like it much either!).

    But the reality is that at some point - probably quite soon - the issue of our membership of the EU will be in the hands of British public. Not well to do lawyers, not politicians, but everyday people.

    This referendum is happening, I suggest you deal with it.

    Alasdair gives himself away when he writes sarcastically about UKIP and gay rights.

    It explains the rest of the article.
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    Football Leaks website at it again...

    Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea was offered £66m contract by Real Madrid

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/12147795/Manchester-United-goalkeeper-David-de-Geas-Real-Madrid-contract-leaked.html
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,799

    Fpt

    Sums my view up http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/camerons-eu-campaign-is-negative-stupid-and-likely-to-win/

    Here we go again. According to today’s Daily Express, leaving the European Union is the only way to ‘save the NHS’. According to the Prime Minister, remaining a member of the european club is the only way to guarantee the United Kingdom’s security.

    I suppose it is too much to hope that everyone, on both sides of this increasingly-wearisome argument, will pipe down and cease being so damn stupid? Of course it is. We will be stuck with more – much more – of this until such time as the bleedin’ poll is called and held. This may be the best reason for having the referendum as soon as possible.

    I'd add this for the Horsemen reference https://youtu.be/1I4nFgMuciU

    Strangely enough, the Express' argument seems to resonate with the public. One recent poll from Yougov showed quite a big plurality of voters who thought that leaving the EU would help the NHS.

    For the life of me, I can't see how EU membership has any bearing on the NHS.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,153
    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.
    The issue is not so much "here are the rules for trading on European stocks" but more that the EU might say that you can only trade in European stocks from a place of business inside he Eurozone. That would have the effect of damaging London and I don't see anything in the proposed deal which would protect the UK from such measures.

    Another example is the proposed FTT which in its initial proposal was limited to the Eurozone but still forcd parties not in the Eurozone to pay it. Imagine that: a tax levied by the Eurozone but largely paid by those outside it. Do you really think that something like this won't be tried again? And, as far as I can see, we are quite unable to stop it.

    Now these may be arcane issue for most people but given how important this sector - and all the associated service industries - are to the current UK economy, this is a pretty important issue and one to which the PM and the Chancellor might have been expected to pay a bit more attention.

  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    This is super

    Give a toss: mark your cross! https://t.co/7N8hAJ94fe #RegisterToVote #Pancakes @BathSpaUni @UniofBath @BathCollege https://t.co/sS8fBU6Zva
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    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

    Oh, some people care. Disproportionately, the rightwing politically active are obsessed by the subject. David Cameron had to keep the backbenches in some form of order and pledging a referendum was the price he had to pay.

    I'm sure that Roman emperors had to pay close attention and indulge the hobby horses of the praetorian guard. That doesn't mean that the plebs shared the same obsessions.
    Round objects.

    c.50% of "the plebs" want to Leave.

    You are a fantastically insightful political punter with a huge amount of wisdom to offer this site but, I'm afraid, on subjects like the EU you are just far too emotionally invested and talk a lot of nonsense.

    Mostly driven by the fact that those that oppose it are people you viscerally dislike.
    I have views on lots of things. I have a view on whether Louis Van Gaal should remain manager of Manchester United. I have a view on whether Britain should retain an independent nuclear deterrent. I have a view on whether pensions taxation should be reformed. I have a view on whether drugs should be legalised.

    If someone were to poll my opinion on each of those matters, I would express my view. That would not mean that the subject was necessarily one of central importance to me. On at least two of those I would defer to those who I considered experts if I were asked to vote in a referendum on the subject. Opinion polls measure numbers, not strength of feeling.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    edited February 2016
    I suspect much the same thing is true of nuclear disarmament in terms of its salience with voters. People tend to forget that Labour won the 1964 election despite a promise not to proceed with Polaris. The Tories made a big issue of it and it was at the height of the Cold War - just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and three years after the Berlin Wall was built. If it was not decisive then, it is difficult to see it being so in 2020.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

    The City could set any agenda it wants but if you think it could get in the way of eg. MiFID you have not thought it through.

    The nature of finance means that the City (from it's pre-eminient position) can in fact parallel EU financial products and take control, and there's nothing they can do about it.

    with respect (as they say), that is bolleaux.

    explain what you mean by saying the City can "parallel EU financial products"?

    How do you parallel trade Deutsche Tel, the u/l?
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    These are wild times in the Labour party, as an appetite for self-destruction grips the party leadership. Central to the ‘new politics’ approach of the party leadership is a deliberate abandonment of basic political professionalism. Positions don’t have to make sense, policies don’t need to be thought through, the political concerns of the public can be dismissed and the media should be hated at all times and ignored wherever possible.

    This new approach represents an orgiastic embrace of the chaos theory: anything goes and no one is to blame. To understand this approach is to understand the Labour leadership and it is through this peculiar prism that the internal Labour debate about Trident should be seen.
    http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/we-cant-let-labours-leadership-use-trident-to-destroy-the-party/
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    That wicket of Root has knocked 20-30 runs of England total.
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    Cyclefree said:

    The issue is not so much "here are the rules for trading on European stocks" but more that the EU might say that you can only trade in European stocks from a place of business inside he Eurozone. That would have the effect of damaging London and I don't see anything in the proposed deal which would protect the UK from such measures.

    Another example is the proposed FTT which in its initial proposal was limited to the Eurozone but still forcd parties not in the Eurozone to pay it. Imagine that: a tax levied by the Eurozone but largely paid by those outside it. Do you really think that something like this won't be tried again? And, as far as I can see, we are quite unable to stop it.

    Now these may be arcane issue for most people but given how important this sector - and all the associated service industries - are to the current UK economy, this is a pretty important issue and one to which the PM and the Chancellor might have been expected to pay a bit more attention.


    "Now these may be arcane issue for most people but given how important this sector - and all the associated service industries - are to the current UK economy, this is a pretty important issue and one to which the PM and the Chancellor might have been expected to pay a bit more attention."

    Indeed. Sadly there's a risk it will be too late before people realise what we've lost.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,267
    edited February 2016
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    It's funny: the ones who tell us that 'no-one cares about the EU' always tend to be the ones most keen on us staying in it.

    Coincidence?
    @Alastair says he is undecided, I have no reason to disbelieve him.

    I'd hope anyone who says they're undecided to genuinely be so and not just appear to be so for the sake of trolling others. I certainly don't believe this is the case with Mr Meeks.
    I'd hope the same but my point still holds. Those that say noone cares about the EU almost always tend to be Remainers.

    In the case of Alastair, I think he wants to be undecided (because intellectually he is) but he detests the Kippers on the Leave side, their attitude to gay rights and their focus on immigration so much that he will default to Remain unless he can put these feelings to one side.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    ''That would have the effect of damaging London and I don't see anything in the proposed deal which would protect the UK from such measures.''

    My point is that this kind of thing is going to happen anyway, because the EU is essentially completely hostile to the City, whether we are in or out.

    The point is that the City does huge business outside continental Europe. If we stay out, and stay outside the EU and outside the EEA we can shelter and nurture this business. As Barclays, says, we will become a safe haven for overseas money.

    Inside the EU, they can get at all our business. European, and non-European.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,936
    justin124 said:

    I suspect much the same thing is true of nuclear disarmament in terms of its salience with voters. People tend to forget that Labour won the 1964 election despite a promise not to proceed with Polaris. The Tories made a big issue of it and it was at the height of the Cold War - just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and three years after the Berlin Wall was built. If it was not decisive then, it is difficult to see it being so in 2020.

    Indeed, and now being 1965 I'm sure the public will still wear not proceeding with Polaris.


    Oh, wait....
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    Trying to work out if Cruz is worth putting a little something on?

    Don't really want to back either Cruz or Bush at current odds.
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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Well quite, I'm entirely bored of this risible stuff.

    It reminds me of dozens of No One Cares About The EU and LibDems Winning Here threads.
    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Indeed. Sadly there's a risk it will be too late before people realise what we've lost.

    Many people still think the tax payer subsidises banks to the tune of billions. They think their money goes to pay the salaries of bankers.

    The ignorance is quite astounding. You can see it on question time.
  • Options
    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901

    Well quite, I'm entirely bored of this risible stuff.

    It reminds me of dozens of No One Cares About The EU and LibDems Winning Here threads.

    Sean_F said:

    I don't really buy the "nobody cares" argument. If nobody cared, Cameron wouldn't be having this referendum.

    In its way, it's like Ribbentrop assuring Molotov in an air raid shelter that Germany had won the war, and getting the response "If the war is won, whose bombs are we sheltering from?"

    Some people care about it very much. Others don't. The former don't understand the latter and vice versa.

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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,893

    Excellent article thanks, Mr Meeks.

    Whichever way the vote goes in a few months, life will continue. The Earth will continue revolving around the Sun. People will be worried about their jobs, or where their kids will go to school. Some will be undergoing cancer treatment, and others will be daydreaming about holidays.

    Most people don't care about the EU.

    Mr. Jessop, you seem to be falling into what I call the Smithson fallacy. Lots of things that really do worry ordinary people, like school places/education quality, like adequate health care, like the children/grandchildren's future are tied up with the EU. The fact that most people do not list the EU as high in their list of worries does not mean that they are relaxed about the effects of membership.
    No. But most people will know that the government's policies have a much greater effect on those services.

    I want a referendum, and I will probably vote to leave. But the EU is not an issue that features highly on my list of important issues: there are far more bread and butter issues for me. Like getting better. :)

    I have many political conversations with people, or at least conversations that stray onto politics. The EU has not come up for months without me prompting it. The NHS probably features in at least half of them. But that's anecdata.

    As for you claiming I've fallen for the "Smithson fallacy": I'd argue that you've fallen for another fallacy that places the EU at far too great an importance in many matters.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,903

    Trying to work out if Cruz is worth putting a little something on?

    Don't really want to back either Cruz or Bush at current odds.

    You can see my views on the google spreadsheet I linked to you :V ^_~

    Long Cruz, short Bush imo.
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Have we had any pro Leaver threads? I'm not recalling many/any.
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,936
    taffys said:

    Indeed. Sadly there's a risk it will be too late before people realise what we've lost.

    Many people still think the tax payer subsidises banks to the tune of billions. They think their money goes to pay the salaries of bankers.

    The ignorance is quite astounding. You can see it on question time.

    It is quite scary.

    For most people a bail out is a gift.

    Most people don't understand the fundamentals of company ownership.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,897
    edited February 2016
    How embarrassed would I be if Enoch read my sycophantic praise of him on PB from heaven and emailed Ted Heath "Cringe!!!"
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    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,936
    Pulpstar said:

    Trying to work out if Cruz is worth putting a little something on?

    Don't really want to back either Cruz or Bush at current odds.

    You can see my views on the google spreadsheet I linked to you :V ^_~

    Long Cruz, short Bush imo.
    I'm long Cruz and Kasish for the GOP - no real value elsewhere that I can see....
  • Options
    Danny565Danny565 Posts: 8,091
    edited February 2016
    Good article.

    I would add though that the overestimation of the salience of the EU is not just limited to the Out side - I've been utterly baffled in recent months by how so many Labour MPs seem to think staying in the EU is one of the top priorities. Liz Kendall for example, in her leadership campaign last year, kept droning on about how the referendum would be "one of the defining issues of our time" -- she was happy to compromise on Labour principles on helping poor people, having well-funded public services, and taking the worker's side over the employer's, yet not being evangelists for the EU was the red line for her.
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Gay rights were issues years ago, along with the Stonewall Cafe. I'm bored stiff.

    Being gay gets two sorts of marriage, being straight gets one.

    Stone me. It's like a Matthew Parris article that defaults to who he fancies. Dull.
    tlg86 said:

    Mr Meeks,

    Gay rights and Northern Ireland are important issues. But we're not about to have a referendum on those subjects.

    You may not like the fact that Dave thought that promising an in-out referendum was the right thing to do for the country and/or his party. You may not like the fact that the Tories won a majority government at the last election (Dave might not like it much either!).

    But the reality is that at some point - probably quite soon - the issue of our membership of the EU will be in the hands of British public. Not well to do lawyers, not politicians, but everyday people.

    This referendum is happening, I suggest you deal with it.

  • Options
    MortimerMortimer Posts: 13,936
    Oh and thanks to Nick P for a response to my inquiry re: Westminster and the outrage bus!
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose the passport to the single market, but could re arrange regulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

    The City could set any agenda it wants but if you think it could get in the way of eg. MiFID you have not thought it through.

    The nature of finance means that the City (from it's pre-eminient position) can in fact parallel EU financial products and take control, and there's nothing they can do about it.

    with respect (as they say), that is bolleaux.

    explain what you mean by saying the City can "parallel EU financial products"?

    How do you parallel trade Deutsche Tel, the u/l?

    Welcome to the world of financial derivatives.

    I think you underestimate bankers if you don't think they could do this.

  • Options
    England making a mess of the final 10 overs.
  • Options
    Not sure what right term is for the but you can definitely create financial derivatives that mimic underlying stocks. Berkshire Hathaway had to create a second class of share with smaller values because traders objected to Buffett's refusal to split shares and created a mimicked stock.
  • Options

    England making a mess of the final 10 overs.

    Yes, but they already have enough I think. This isn't a 300+ pitch.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244
    Cyclefree said:

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the s the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulf we left.
    The EU is 15% of tbad idea.
    trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.
    The issue is not so much "here are the rules for trading on European stocks" but more that the EU might say that you can only trade in European stocks from a place of business inside he Eurozone. That would have the effect of damaging London and I don't see anything in the proposed deal which would protect the UK from such measures.

    Another example is the proposed FTT which in its initial proposal was limited to the Eurozone but still forcd parties not in the Eurozone to pay it. Imagine that: a tax levied by the Eurozone but largely paid by those outside it. Do you really think that something like this won't be tried again? And, as far as I can see, we are quite unable to stop it.

    Now these may be arcane issue for most people but given how important this sector - and all the associated service industries - are to the current UK economy, this is a pretty important issue and one to which the PM and the Chancellor might have been expected to pay a bit more attention.

    Trading european stocks only from within the Eurozone? That is a bit far-fetched. They could theoretically say you must use a european-based broker but that might irritate the US, Asia, UK, etc and I just don't see it as credible. Why would they want to restrict turnover in their stock markets? I would have to google the number of non-EU-based brokers trading EU stocks and the associated turnover but I am thinking it is non-trivial.

    FTT? Well the arguments against are well-rehearsed. And it was to pay to trade european stocks. There are already taxes on domestic share trading in France, Italy and the UK. The argument against the FTT was that if the UK and the US all agreed to implement it then fine we could think of giving it a go but not otherwise (not that anyone would necessarily have wanted it).

    Trust me, MiFID doesn't get any more arcane. It is the giant set of rules that people trade european stocks by. We at present get to put in our oar about how we want MiFID to look. If we were not in the EU we would be presented with it and have to lump it.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,897
    On Topic, outside of PB the entirety of my conversations about the EU referendum have been when I asked my Mum last week how she would vote... she said "to stay in" and I said "ok whats on the telly"
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Mortimer said:

    justin124 said:

    I suspect much the same thing is true of nuclear disarmament in terms of its salience with voters. People tend to forget that Labour won the 1964 election despite a promise not to proceed with Polaris. The Tories made a big issue of it and it was at the height of the Cold War - just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and three years after the Berlin Wall was built. If it was not decisive then, it is difficult to see it being so in 2020.

    Indeed, and now being 1965 I'm sure the public will still wear not proceeding with Polaris.


    Oh, wait....
    I am aware that Labour did not stick to its Polaris pledge - but the point is that the commitment did not prevent the party from winning the election!
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,893

    Pulpstar said:

    On the whole "leavers" care more about exit of the EU than remainers do staying in it.

    Will "Remain" be able to get the vote out on the day ?

    It's funny: the ones who tell us that 'no-one cares about the EU' always tend to be the ones most keen on us staying in it.

    Coincidence?
    For the record, my position is not that 'no-one cares about the EU': it's that some people care too much about the EU.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,244

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Indigo said:

    TOPPING said:

    taffys said:

    ''One bread and butter issue for me is what staying in the EU or leaving might mean for the financial services sector. The arguments are pretty finely balanced at the moment.''

    For me, whichever way you look at it, the City is on borrowed time. Inside, the whole thing is getting strangled - City am is stacked full of articles complaining about EU over regulation.

    Outside, we may lose tngle egulation to attract more business from elsewhere.

    In end, the EU hates the City and wants to destroy it. If we leave, we will at least save some of it.

    naive.

    EU regulation is the rules. Do you suppose we can impose our own on the EU?

    I am an out-waverer but there would be more than an element of government by fax in financial services if we left.
    The EU is 15% of the market currently imposing its rules on 100% of our products. Out, even EEA Out means we only apply those rules to the 15% that goes to the EU, lopping a large chunk of costs off our suppliers and making the UK more competitive. Must be a bad idea.
    In financial services, (which is what @Cyclefree and then @taffys commented on) the EU discusses and then sets the rules for trading in the european markets. So we either are part of the EU and put in our tuppence-worth or we are not part of the EU and are told what the rules are. For trading in european stocks. Oh sure we can say: "but here are our rules for trading in the UK" but that would add not inconsiderable complexity and cost to the process.

    That doesn't take into account the strength of the City, and how we could set the agenda that the EU would have to fit in with, including after we leave.

    This is something the French and Germans will continually erode if we stay in.

    The City could set any agenda it wants but if you think it could get in the way of eg. MiFID you have not thought it through.

    The nature of finance means that the City (from it's pre-eminient position) can in fact parallel EU financial products and take control, and there's nothing they can do about it.

    with respect (as they say), that is bolleaux.

    explain what you mean by saying the City can "parallel EU financial products"?

    How do you parallel trade Deutsche Tel, the u/l?

    Welcome to the world of financial derivatives.

    I think you underestimate bankers if you don't think they could do this.

    Very funny. You think a Deutsche tel CFD traded out of London is going to replace trading the u/l on Xetra!!

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