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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Britain’s EU hokey-cokey: what would ‘in again’ look like a

SystemSystem Posts: 11,683
edited June 2016 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Britain’s EU hokey-cokey: what would ‘in again’ look like and why isn’t Remain talking about it?

If there was one thing that won the Scottish Independence referendum for No (or Remain in current parlance), it was the currency question.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • Options
    ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    edited June 2016
    First, like spoiled ballots on Thursday.
  • Options
    RoyalBlueRoyalBlue Posts: 3,223
    Second, like Remain.
  • Options
    ChameleonChameleon Posts: 3,886
    A very intelligent article wrt to the risk of us re-entering. However it doesn't answer the key question of why we would choose to rejoin, at the very most we'd go into the EFTA for the trade benefits.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754
    Except it wouldn't be in again, it would be dont leave and have another think about it.

    If Cameron's credibility is shot, nows the time the EU would actually start to negotiate.

    He has been stupid and refused the outer core offer which would keep 80+% of Britons happy to stay in.
  • Options
    StarfallStarfall Posts: 78
    If we left, I would argue for us to rejoin from the following day. It would be easier to do that if the EU was firm but reasonable with us.
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.
  • Options
    AnnaAnna Posts: 59

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    Maybe if they fancied £8.8bn of contributions per annum and unfettered access to one of the most liquid capital markets and best legal systems in the world?
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    theyd be mad to

    being fair to my continental friends we're just safer out of the way and let them get on with whatever they want to do
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,433
    Fpt
    alex. said:

    alex. said:

    alex. said:

    Not a joke. Chills the blood:

    1) Clarify exactly why you object to the concept of an (opt in) EU army?
    2) How would the UK leaving the EU make any difference to the establishment of said EU army?
    I have no objection to European countries cooperating pan-Europe on defence. But, if so, that should only be done through multilateral agreement by national parliaments.

    To let one be established under the powers of the EU treaties to an EU that has legal identity to promote its foreign policy and support its 'power projection' is very different.

    I should have thought the difference was obvious
    And question 2?
    Question 2 is even more obvious that I can't actually believe it's been asked.

    It won't matter to us because we won't be part of it.
    We won't be part of an opt-in EU army if we remain in the EU (although we may have a say in the extent of its operations).

    We won't be part of an opt-in EU army if we leave the EU.

    And of course it has the potential to matter to us. As Benedict White pointed out, the major objection to it would be any effect it has on Nato. But if we have such grounds for objection, being out of the EU wouldn't help us.
    Yet there were already plans to 'share' an aircraft carrier with the French. I mean sorry wtf? What is that if it's not military procurement on the basis of an amalgamation of forces in the medium term?
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,285

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    Because without the UK being in the eu there will be WWIII or some such nonsense according to Cameron.
  • Options
    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133
    FPT

    alex. said:

    alex. said:

    alex. said:

    Not a joke. Chills the blood:

    1) Clarify exactly why you object to the concept of an (opt in) EU army?
    2) How would the UK leaving the EU make any difference to the establishment of said EU army?
    I have no objection to European countries cooperating pan-Europe on defence. But, if so, that should only be done through multilateral agreement by national parliaments.

    To let one be established under the powers of the EU treaties to an EU that has legal identity to promote its foreign policy and support its 'power projection' is very different.

    I should have thought the difference was obvious
    And question 2?
    Question 2 is even more obvious that I can't actually believe it's been asked.

    It won't matter to us because we won't be part of it.
    We won't be part of an opt-in EU army if we remain in the EU (although we may have a say in the extent of its operations).

    We won't be part of an opt-in EU army if we leave the EU.
    Opt in.

    Yeah right.
    They fall for it every time.
    It's true to say that we will have a chance to opt out.

    On Thursday.
  • Options
    notmenotme Posts: 3,293
    If things were so bad that we had to enter the EU, it would be because we probably needed to join the Euro anyway.
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    Here's something rare these days: I agree with Alastair. France would veto a BRin, and so would I if I were French (eww).

    Can I say how glad I am to see a Mr Herdson article again, it's the quality of the articles that are a large part of why many of us loaf about here.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.
  • Options
    shiney2shiney2 Posts: 672
    edited June 2016
    This should be interesting.

    https://youtu.be/wYg6ytOjgIo

    Can't keep a good man down etc..
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    perdix said:
    There is no balance in that article at all.

    Both the headline and the first two sentences cut straight to the Economist's chase.
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    No I don't. I explicitly say "re-joining would mean Eurozone, Schengen and the rest." i.e. the EU would be laying down the terms for re-entry and Britain's current favoured status with respect to opt-outs would have been lost. It's precisely because the EU / member states wouldn't want another permanent headache that they'd insist on the same terms as everyone else, and hence that Britain was signed up to the same objectives as everyone else. At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    Except it wouldn't be in again, it would be dont leave and have another think about it.

    If Cameron's credibility is shot, nows the time the EU would actually start to negotiate.

    He has been stupid and refused the outer core offer which would keep 80+% of Britons happy to stay in.

    No, I'm talking about actually leaving and then wanting to rejoin in 10+ years.
  • Options
    PlatoSaidPlatoSaid Posts: 10,383
    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    No I don't. I explicitly say "re-joining would mean Eurozone, Schengen and the rest." i.e. the EU would be laying down the terms for re-entry and Britain's current favoured status with respect to opt-outs would have been lost. It's precisely because the EU / member states wouldn't want another permanent headache that they'd insist on the same terms as everyone else, and hence that Britain was signed up to the same objectives as everyone else. At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).
    They might simply say Non. There is precedent for that.
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    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,082
    "Britain could be leaving at just the moment when reform is becoming not just a possibility but a necessity."

    I believe such a criticism was used about Baltic independence from the Soviet Union.

    You might think reform is a necessity for the EU but that doesn't mean its going to happen. It doesn't even mean that the leaders of the EU agree that reform is a necessity.

    Now if you think that reform of the EU is a necessity what happens to a Britain within an EU which doesn't reform ?

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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,929
    shiney2 said:

    This should be interesting.

    https://youtu.be/wYg6ytOjgIo

    Can't keep a good man down etc..

    It'll be interesting to see his vote share.

    Low I expect.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754
    edited June 2016

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    No I don't. I explicitly say "re-joining would mean Eurozone, Schengen and the rest." i.e. the EU would be laying down the terms for re-entry and Britain's current favoured status with respect to opt-outs would have been lost. It's precisely because the EU / member states wouldn't want another permanent headache that they'd insist on the same terms as everyone else, and hence that Britain was signed up to the same objectives as everyone else. At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).
    The UK would never rejoin

    It will either get a new and serious deal before it leaves or leave permananetly
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754

    Except it wouldn't be in again, it would be dont leave and have another think about it.

    If Cameron's credibility is shot, nows the time the EU would actually start to negotiate.

    He has been stupid and refused the outer core offer which would keep 80+% of Britons happy to stay in.

    No, I'm talking about actually leaving and then wanting to rejoin in 10+ years.
    We never will

    well be out in the world and taking our chances
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    notmenotme Posts: 3,293
    Pulpstar said:

    shiney2 said:

    This should be interesting.

    https://youtu.be/wYg6ytOjgIo

    Can't keep a good man down etc..

    It'll be interesting to see his vote share.

    Low I expect.
    Not if he's the only alternative. But he wont have an infrastructure to support his campaign.
  • Options
    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,082

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    The EU's future is as a USE.

    We should wish them well and help them achieve that.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335

    Except it wouldn't be in again, it would be dont leave and have another think about it.

    If Cameron's credibility is shot, nows the time the EU would actually start to negotiate.

    He has been stupid and refused the outer core offer which would keep 80+% of Britons happy to stay in.

    No, I'm talking about actually leaving and then wanting to rejoin in 10+ years.
    I think there are two differences between you and me on this:

    (1) You think the EU will continue to represent the future
    (2) You think it can and will reform

    I think neither.
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419
    Chameleon said:

    A very intelligent article wrt to the risk of us re-entering. However it doesn't answer the key question of why we would choose to rejoin, at the very most we'd go into the EFTA for the trade benefits.

    It would probably be a similar reason to first time around: a loss of national self confidence set against a successful continent. At present, that looks unlikely in the near future but then in 1975 you'd have said that a Thatcher 1980s would have looked unlikely. Another alternative would be if the USA went isolationist - always a risk - and Russia started to really throw its weight about, though I suspect that would lead more to co-operation within a EuroNATO than to rejoining, though it'd be a step in that direction.
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    weejonnieweejonnie Posts: 3,820
    Progressive EU integration (A comment from Guido's website)

    The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

    As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

    In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

    There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

    In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

    Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

    By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

    During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem

    of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

    Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,607

    Except it wouldn't be in again, it would be dont leave and have another think about it.

    If Cameron's credibility is shot, nows the time the EU would actually start to negotiate.

    He has been stupid and refused the outer core offer which would keep 80+% of Britons happy to stay in.

    No, I'm talking about actually leaving and then wanting to rejoin in 10+ years.
    I don't see the circumstances under which Britain would want to join the EU after leaving. Once we're out we're out. I could only see a scenario where if NATO were disbanded and the US left the European continent to fend for itself the EU may ask us to join any defence initiative it has to replace NATO since our defence spending and diplomatic power far outweigh all other nations in the EU other than France.
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    notmenotme Posts: 3,293

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    No I don't. I explicitly say "re-joining would mean Eurozone, Schengen and the rest." i.e. the EU would be laying down the terms for re-entry and Britain's current favoured status with respect to opt-outs would have been lost. It's precisely because the EU / member states wouldn't want another permanent headache that they'd insist on the same terms as everyone else, and hence that Britain was signed up to the same objectives as everyone else. At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).

    At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).

    That genuinely has just made me laugh. I love it!
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    The Economists and its readership base pretty much epitomise those who not only support but run the Remain campaign.
  • Options
    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    David Herdson getting the jitters and we all know that the so called deal between Cammo and the EU elite is not worth the paper it's written on - if it was indeed written at all.

    Mr Tusk is only interested in one thing being Polish and we all know what that is, and I can say I can't blame him.
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
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    GoupillonGoupillon Posts: 79
    Lets get the nett cost of being in the EU (£140m per week) into perspective - this cost is about £2 a week for the each of the approx 70 million of us living in the UK. I do not buy the Sun, Express or Daily Mail but I am told the cost per week for taking any of these "admirable organs" is considerably more than this. So why are some people so upset about the amount of money we are currently paying to the EU? I wonder how many new hospitals could be built with the amount of money that people could save if they stopped buying these newspapers?
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    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503

    Chameleon said:

    A very intelligent article wrt to the risk of us re-entering. However it doesn't answer the key question of why we would choose to rejoin, at the very most we'd go into the EFTA for the trade benefits.

    It would probably be a similar reason to first time around: a loss of national self confidence set against a successful continent. At present, that looks unlikely in the near future but then in 1975 you'd have said that a Thatcher 1980s would have looked unlikely. Another alternative would be if the USA went isolationist - always a risk - and Russia started to really throw its weight about, though I suspect that would lead more to co-operation within a EuroNATO than to rejoining, though it'd be a step in that direction.
    The Russians don't have the economy to support any kind of sustained conflict. They're what, somewhere between Spain and Italy? Resource based to boot, so reasonably susceptible to sanctions.

    I appreciate that that economic clout isn't the sole determinant of power projection capabilities.

    I've been hearing 'the Russians are coming' my entire life. However, as we learned post Cold War, the USSR was very much a paper tiger. Perhaps I'm in danger of leaning too far the other way now.

    Putin needs bogeymen for his own purposes, but then, so do we.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    Leave get criticised for nasty xenophobia because they have campaigned with nasty xenophobic posters. Far too many Leavers, from the very top down, seem way too comfortable with making the white folks angry.

    You can't do that and evade criticism. You might decide that paddling in that pool is worth it in the pursuit of a more important cause. That, however, speaks volumes about your priorities.
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    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,945
    "Britain could be leaving at just the moment when reform is becoming not just a possibility but a necessity".

    Still living in cloud cuckoo land here David.

    Yes reform is absolutely necessary. But it is not the reform that Britain is looking for and we would have no control over it either. The Eurozone needs political union and it will get political union and there is nothing we can do to stop that.

    Thinking we can reform the EU to suit the British is the height of arrogance and the last 40 years have shown us it is neither possible nor desirable as far as the rest of the Eu are concerned.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,929

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
    He got the old selective partial quote trick pulled on him. Must be the oldest one in journalism :D.

    Someone has to be the sensible and sober one when working with Junker anyhow.
  • Options
    david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,419

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    No I don't. I explicitly say "re-joining would mean Eurozone, Schengen and the rest." i.e. the EU would be laying down the terms for re-entry and Britain's current favoured status with respect to opt-outs would have been lost. It's precisely because the EU / member states wouldn't want another permanent headache that they'd insist on the same terms as everyone else, and hence that Britain was signed up to the same objectives as everyone else. At present, Britain can to an extent have cake and eat it (albeit someone else's recipe that it's paid quite a bit for).
    They might simply say Non. There is precedent for that.
    They might - though they said oui eventually.
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
    "As a historian I fear Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also Western political civilisation in its entirety." - to Bild.
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    FF43FF43 Posts: 15,718
    There has been talk about the EU punishing the UK for leaving, and to some extent needing to punish the UK, pour encourager les autres.

    I just had this wild idea that they will put a "no rebate" price on access to the single market. It would be funny if we actually ended up paying £350 million a week if we left the EU.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
    Tusk:

    ‘Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be. As a historian I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety.’

    https://www.politicshome.com/news/europe/eu-policy-agenda/brexit/news/76108/donald-tusk-brexit-could-bring-about-end-western
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754

    Leave get criticised for nasty xenophobia because they have campaigned with nasty xenophobic posters. Far too many Leavers, from the very top down, seem way too comfortable with making the white folks angry.

    You can't do that and evade criticism. You might decide that paddling in that pool is worth it in the pursuit of a more important cause. That, however, speaks volumes about your priorities.

    Or maybe much more simply lots of ordinary decent people just dont see it the way you do.
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    MikeK said:

    David Herdson getting the jitters and we all know that the so called deal between Cammo and the EU elite is not worth the paper it's written on - if it was indeed written at all.

    Mr Tusk is only interested in one thing being Polish and we all know what that is, and I can say I can't blame him.

    To be fair, David Herdson is the most sensible Remainer on here.

    I don't agree with him, but Remain would, IMHO, be in a much better position if they had more people like him in charge.
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    asjohnstoneasjohnstone Posts: 1,276
    Going slightly off topic, I think the Ipsos-mori phone poll to be published Wednesday night is the only one still in the field. Am I mistaken?
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    SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
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    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
      L
    E
    LEAVE
    V
    E
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    RoyalBlueRoyalBlue Posts: 3,223
    John_M said:

    Chameleon said:

    A very intelligent article wrt to the risk of us re-entering. However it doesn't answer the key question of why we would choose to rejoin, at the very most we'd go into the EFTA for the trade benefits.

    It would probably be a similar reason to first time around: a loss of national self confidence set against a successful continent. At present, that looks unlikely in the near future but then in 1975 you'd have said that a Thatcher 1980s would have looked unlikely. Another alternative would be if the USA went isolationist - always a risk - and Russia started to really throw its weight about, though I suspect that would lead more to co-operation within a EuroNATO than to rejoining, though it'd be a step in that direction.
    The Russians don't have the economy to support any kind of sustained conflict. They're what, somewhere between Spain and Italy? Resource based to boot, so reasonably susceptible to sanctions.

    I appreciate that that economic clout isn't the sole determinant of power projection capabilities.

    I've been hearing 'the Russians are coming' my entire life. However, as we learned post Cold War, the USSR was very much a paper tiger. Perhaps I'm in danger of leaning too far the other way now.

    Putin needs bogeymen for his own purposes, but then, so do we.
    The advantage Putin has is that the Russian people will sacrifice far more than Western peoples if it will allow their state to project power globally. I put this down to the gratitude they have for Putin in restoring order to a country which in the 1990s couldn't pay miserable pensions on time, didn't have sufficient fuel for its air force and in which you could divert passenger flights by bribing pilots.
  • Options
    ThreeQuidderThreeQuidder Posts: 6,133

    Leave get criticised for nasty xenophobia because they have campaigned with nasty xenophobic posters. Far too many Leavers, from the very top down, seem way too comfortable with making the white folks angry.

    The "white folks", as you put it, are angry.

    London-centric politicians have tried ignoring them for at least a decade, and that's worked so well.
  • Options
    John_N4John_N4 Posts: 553
    Britain didn't "(walk) out on involvement in the 1950s". De Gaulle told Britain to eff off, because while he wanted them in, he didn't want them in as a US Trojan horse. So the UKUSA signals intelligence treaty ("Five Eyes") of the late 1940s took precedence. The existence of that treaty was first admitted in 2005; the text is still secret. That's how they run foreign policy in this country.

    Wasn't it Anthony Eden who dreamily talked about Britain as being in the intersection of three overlapping circles? What a pair of pillocks he and Harold Macmillan were. Go Christine and Mandy!

    The idea of a union of Britain and France, remooted in 1956, should have been put into practice. Then Britain might have turned into something other than an outpost of the US, a sorry state that is nowadays rationalised - when anyone cares to try - as an almost natural product of the role of the English language. But it's not that. It's the product of bad decisions going back several decades, renewed and updated in secret.

    And guess what! Nowadays at Chatham House they're still talking about three circles. They call them "concentric". But look what the circles are: 1) the EU, 2) Britain-US, and 3) "an ‘outer circle’ (comprising) the UK’s other key bilateral and institutional relationships". Concentric circles share a centre, so if you want to call them circles then they aren't possibly concentric, because parts of the EU are outside Britain-US while the whole of the US is outside the EU. But never mind about these twits using words they don't know the meaning of. The basic idea is that Britain is at the centre of the world. It's the same idiocy 60 years later. Frankly you might as well talk about the British Way and Purpose.

    Mustn't ask why NATO still exists. I'm reading a novel by the recently retired NATO deputy supreme commander in Europe (DSACEUR), British general Richard Shirreff. It's appallingly badly written, but that isn't its most frightening feature. The Oundle-educated creep is basically calling for war with Russia next year.

    If the strategic position really were as he paints it (it isn't), it would make sense to meet with Russia and discuss security guarantees for BOTH the Baltic states AND Kaliningrad. But no. This guy and the men at RUSI who are promoting his book want nuclear war. And soon. You have been warned.
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,945
    FF43 said:

    There has been talk about the EU punishing the UK for leaving, and to some extent needing to punish the UK, pour encourager les autres.

    I just had this wild idea that they will put a "no rebate" price on access to the single market. It would be funny if we actually ended up paying £350 million a week if we left the EU.

    We would just say no. The single market is not worth that much. It would be cheaper for us to just go with WTO tariffs.
  • Options
    RodCrosbyRodCrosby Posts: 7,737

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
    Tusk:

    ‘Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be. As a historian I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety.’

    https://www.politicshome.com/news/europe/eu-policy-agenda/brexit/news/76108/donald-tusk-brexit-could-bring-about-end-western
    Or we could get struck by a giant meteorite...
  • Options
    AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 2,869
    Thank you, David, an interesting article.

    Assuming we do leave and in a decade or so wish to return, it would make sense to
    a) wait until the EU project has reached completion and we can see what we're aiming to join;
    b) become a member state, join in whole-heartedly and assimilate.

    If we asked the USA to let us become another state of theirs, we'd expect to change our way of life to theirs. How is the USE any different?
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,945
    Goupillon said:

    Lets get the nett cost of being in the EU (£140m per week) into perspective - this cost is about £2 a week for the each of the approx 70 million of us living in the UK. I do not buy the Sun, Express or Daily Mail but I am told the cost per week for taking any of these "admirable organs" is considerably more than this. So why are some people so upset about the amount of money we are currently paying to the EU? I wonder how many new hospitals could be built with the amount of money that people could save if they stopped buying these newspapers?

    The net cost is £163 million a week. That is our basic net fees. Actually it is a bit more than that net because of the extras we have to pay as well for involvement in various programmes.
  • Options
    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,082

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,945
    Goupillon said:

    Lets get the nett cost of being in the EU (£140m per week) into perspective - this cost is about £2 a week for the each of the approx 70 million of us living in the UK. I do not buy the Sun, Express or Daily Mail but I am told the cost per week for taking any of these "admirable organs" is considerably more than this. So why are some people so upset about the amount of money we are currently paying to the EU? I wonder how many new hospitals could be built with the amount of money that people could save if they stopped buying these newspapers?

    So you are proposing taxing people extra to make up for what we send to the EU? Not the brightest Remainder idea I have heard this year.
  • Options
    John_N4John_N4 Posts: 553
    perdix said:
    "Fog in Channel: Continent cut off" :)
  • Options
    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    And still they imagine that it is only white folk who get vexed about migration and change.

    The ignorance is astonishing.
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    LucyJonesLucyJones Posts: 651
    FF43 said:

    There has been talk about the EU punishing the UK for leaving, and to some extent needing to punish the UK, pour encourager les autres.

    I just had this wild idea that they will put a "no rebate" price on access to the single market. It would be funny if we actually ended up paying £350 million a week if we left the EU.

    If would already be facing economic Armageddon, were we to leave, why should it be necessary to punish us further pour encourager les autres.?

    If things are going to be as bad as some claim, surely no other member would even dream of following us into our post-Brexit economic wasteland, anyway?


  • Options
    BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 7,989
    Pulpstar said:

    shiney2 said:

    This should be interesting.

    https://youtu.be/wYg6ytOjgIo

    Can't keep a good man down etc..

    It'll be interesting to see his vote share.

    Low I expect.
    He is ex BNP. Quite a cheek to call his party Liberty GB. It might mislead a few people to think it is to do with Liberty.
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    MikeK said:

    David Herdson getting the jitters and we all know that the so called deal between Cammo and the EU elite is not worth the paper it's written on - if it was indeed written at all.

    Mr Tusk is only interested in one thing being Polish and we all know what that is, and I can say I can't blame him.

    The more I see of Tusk, the more I like him.

    There was a very interesting, if partial, article in Der Spiegel which gave me some hope that David's argument is actually gaining ground in Brussels.

    I've criticized Remain for insisting that we face Armageddon if we leave, but we mustn't lapse into the same error. If we Remain, it won't be the end of the world, Juncker doesn't represent every strand of thought in the council, and we can fight to make our voice heard.

    We're going to continue to be wealthy and better yet, once the referendum is over, we can get back to just dismissing all the people with concerns over mass immigration as racists, thank you FPTP, what a great system!
  • Options

    perdix said:
    There is no balance in that article at all.

    Both the headline and the first two sentences cut straight to the Economist's chase.
    It reminded me why I stopped buying the Economist years ago. There was a dearth of real knowledge behind its writing. It is as if all its journalists have been replaced with 22 year olds straight after university and have no depth and no sense of the economic laws that operate in the real world.
  • Options
    FernandoFernando Posts: 145
    Part of Leave's case is that there are unpleasant (to our interests) changes in the EU pipeline, notably an EU army, the accession of Turkey and being forced to join the Eurozone. Well, if this ever comes to pass we can have another referendum and leave later.
    If we leave and Remain's economic warnings materialise, there is not much we can do. We can't rejoin the EU on the current terms.
    However, if Leave's warnings materialise we can always vote to leave then.
  • Options
    TCPoliticalBettingTCPoliticalBetting Posts: 10,819
    edited June 2016
    Michael Taylor @Michael_Taylor_
    Emily Thornberry's neighbours have gone all out to piss her off! #VoteLeave #Brexit #EUref @LouiseMensch
    View image on Twitter
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,945
    John_N4 said:

    Britain didn't "(walk) out on involvement in the 1950s". De Gaulle told Britain to eff off, because while he wanted them in, he didn't want them in as a US Trojan horse. So the UKUSA signals intelligence treaty ("Five Eyes") of the late 1940s took precedence. The existence of that treaty was first admitted in 2005; the text is still secret. That's how they run foreign policy in this country.

    Wasn't it Anthony Eden who dreamily talked about Britain as being in the intersection of three overlapping circles? What a pair of pillocks he and Harold Macmillan were. Go Christine and Mandy!

    The idea of a union of Britain and France, remooted in 1956, should have been put into practice. Then Britain might have turned into something other than an outpost of the US, a sorry state that is nowadays rationalised - when anyone cares to try - as an almost natural product of the role of the English language. But it's not that. It's the product of bad decisions going back several decades, renewed and updated in secret.

    And guess what! Nowadays at Chatham House they're still talking about three circles. They call them "concentric". But look what the circles are: 1) the EU, 2) Britain-US, and 3) "an ‘outer circle’ (comprising) the UK’s other key bilateral and institutional relationships". Concentric circles share a centre, so if you want to call them circles then they aren't possibly concentric, because parts of the EU are outside Britain-US while the whole of the US is outside the EU. But never mind about these twits using words they don't know the meaning of. The basic idea is that Britain is at the centre of the world. It's the same idiocy 60 years later. Frankly you might as well talk about the British Way and Purpose.

    Mustn't ask why NATO still exists. I'm reading a novel by the recently retired NATO deputy supreme commander in Europe (DSACEUR), British general Richard Shirreff. It's appallingly badly written, but that isn't its most frightening feature. The Oundle-educated creep is basically calling for war with Russia next year.

    If the strategic position really were as he paints it (it isn't), it would make sense to meet with Russia and discuss security guarantees for BOTH the Baltic states AND Kaliningrad. But no. This guy and the men at RUSI who are promoting his book want nuclear war. And soon. You have been warned.

    Still carrying on with this bollocks about the UK being an outpost of the US I see. Did someone steal one of your relatives off to Guantanamo Bay? It is the only excuse I can think of for you spouting this garbage.
  • Options
    SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
    Thats how you categorise it. Ask the farmers in Norfolk who cannot get brits to pull the crops..

    Leave is full of lies, but so are Remain. The difference is that Leave are xenophobic in many of the things they say. Go and talk to some leavers on the street and all they say is that they want to stop immigration/ kick migrants out.. That's it.. its a one subject agenda.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    AnneJGP said:

    Thank you, David, an interesting article.

    Assuming we do leave and in a decade or so wish to return, it would make sense to
    a) wait until the EU project has reached completion and we can see what we're aiming to join;
    b) become a member state, join in whole-heartedly and assimilate.

    If we asked the USA to let us become another state of theirs, we'd expect to change our way of life to theirs. How is the USE any different?

    Canada is a fully sovereign nation right on the doorstep of the US, and is hugely economically interconnected with it, yet preserves its own G8 seat, WTO seat, foreign influence and policy and much else besides.

    There is no appetite, desire or need for it to join it as a state.

    I think Britain's problem is that we want to be a very big global hitter but lack the confidence that we will be able to do it ourselves. So, instead, our elites are attracted to power blocs they hope to influence from the inside and don't mind the political price because they think they can control it.
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,433
    edited June 2016

    Leave get criticised for nasty xenophobia because they have campaigned with nasty xenophobic posters. Far too many Leavers, from the very top down, seem way too comfortable with making the white folks angry.

    You can't do that and evade criticism. You might decide that paddling in that pool is worth it in the pursuit of a more important cause. That, however, speaks volumes about your priorities.

    It's not about making anyone angry, it's about refusing to deligitimise their concerns and sweep them under the carpet as collaterol damage on the road to creating Northern eurotopia.
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,817
    Fernando said:

    Part of Leave's case is that there are unpleasant (to our interests) changes in the EU pipeline, notably an EU army, the accession of Turkey and being forced to join the Eurozone. Well, if this ever comes to pass we can have another referendum and leave later.
    If we leave and Remain's economic warnings materialise, there is not much we can do. We can't rejoin the EU on the current terms.
    However, if Leave's warnings materialise we can always vote to leave then.

    You seriously think the Establishment will ever risk another referendum after this one? Really?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,929

    Leave get criticised for nasty xenophobia because they have campaigned with nasty xenophobic posters. Far too many Leavers, from the very top down, seem way too comfortable with making the white folks angry.

    You can't do that and evade criticism. You might decide that paddling in that pool is worth it in the pursuit of a more important cause. That, however, speaks volumes about your priorities.

    Has Phil Woolas come out for leave yet ?
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    John_N4John_N4 Posts: 553
    Fernando said:

    Part of Leave's case is that there are unpleasant (to our interests) changes in the EU pipeline, notably an EU army, the accession of Turkey and being forced to join the Eurozone. Well, if this ever comes to pass we can have another referendum and leave later.
    If we leave and Remain's economic warnings materialise, there is not much we can do. We can't rejoin the EU on the current terms.
    However, if Leave's warnings materialise we can always vote to leave then.

    Why do you think it's in the pipeline for Britain to be forced to adopt the euro?

    I don't understand why people are talking about another referendum. There isn't going to be one. The only reason I can come up with for why they are talking about it is because they are enjoying talking about this one so much.
  • Options
    AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 2,869

    David Herdson assumes that the EU would accept the UK back in on any terms. That seems unsafe to me - why would the EU volunteer to accept a permanent migraine again? This is not just the UK's decision.

    I've been speculating whether the rancour raised by this referendum might give the other EU states second thoughts about whether they want us at the table anyway, even if we do vote Remain.

    It seems possible that they'll take fright at the passions seething away and decide it would be better to dispose of us before we infect the whole project.

    (It was the train being deliberately derailed at Paddington that made me think of it. SPAD & a controlled crash rather than much greater damage further on.
    http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/exeter-passengers-face-massive-delays-after-great-western-train-derails/story-29412710-detail/story.html
    )
  • Options
    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,082
    Barnesian said:

    Pulpstar said:

    shiney2 said:

    This should be interesting.

    https://youtu.be/wYg6ytOjgIo

    Can't keep a good man down etc..

    It'll be interesting to see his vote share.

    Low I expect.
    He is ex BNP. Quite a cheek to call his party Liberty GB. It might mislead a few people to think it is to do with Liberty.
    There does seem to be an incredible number of ex BNP splinter groups.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,754

    perdix said:
    There is no balance in that article at all.

    Both the headline and the first two sentences cut straight to the Economist's chase.
    It reminded me why I stopped buying the Economist years ago. There was a dearth of real knowledge behind its writing. It is as if all its journalists have been replaced with 22 year olds straight after university and have no depth and no sense of the economic laws that operate in the real world.
    I did the same in about 2000

    once my subscription was up I refused to renew it. They kept trying to sell it to me but I pointed out anything praising Blair just wasnt going to persuade me to buy it.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335
    RodCrosby said:

    Very interesting article, David.

    I agree that I thought Tusk was the sensible one. Which begs the question why he pumped up the rhetoric to the max with "the end of Western Civilisation" last week, and made himself look rather silly.

    I was in Wales last week and therefore riding steam trains and communing with dragons, so missed that. By and large, Tusk has been sensible. I don't know the context of that comment but I'd hope it wasn't quite as down-the-line as the quote makes it sound.
    Tusk:

    ‘Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be. As a historian I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety.’

    https://www.politicshome.com/news/europe/eu-policy-agenda/brexit/news/76108/donald-tusk-brexit-could-bring-about-end-western
    Or we could get struck by a giant meteorite...
    Yup, and antibiotic resistant bacteria is probably our biggest threat.

    Our biggest "human" threat - to me at least - is that the world becomes more like China, and less like Hong Kong.

    Do we want just a bit more cash in the short-term, and a quiet life? Or do we want to make a stand for free speech, democracy, sovereignty and liberty, even if we get knocked about a bit first?

    For me, that's what this Thursday is about.
  • Options
    JamesPJamesP Posts: 85
    Does anyone know the timetable of opinion polls over the next few days? Are we due any tonight?
  • Options
    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,433

    John_N4 said:

    Britain didn't "(walk) out on involvement in the 1950s". De Gaulle told Britain to eff off, because while he wanted them in, he didn't want them in as a US Trojan horse. So the UKUSA signals intelligence treaty ("Five Eyes") of the late 1940s took precedence. The existence of that treaty was first admitted in 2005; the text is still secret. That's how they run foreign policy in this country.

    Wasn't it Anthony Eden who dreamily talked about Britain as being in the intersection of three overlapping circles? What a pair of pillocks he and Harold Macmillan were. Go Christine and Mandy!

    The idea of a union of Britain and France, remooted in 1956, should have been put into practice. Then Britain might have turned into something other than an outpost of the US, a sorry state that is nowadays rationalised - when anyone cares to try - as an almost natural product of the role of the English language. But it's not that. It's the product of bad decisions going back several decades, renewed and updated in secret.

    And guess what! Nowadays at Chatham House they're still talking about three circles. They call them "concentric". But look what the circles are: 1) the EU, 2) Britain-US, and 3) "an ‘outer circle’ (comprising) the UK’s other key bilateral and institutional relationships". Concentric circles share a centre, so if you want to call them circles then they aren't possibly concentric, because parts of the EU are outside Britain-US while the whole of the US is outside the EU. But never mind about these twits using words they don't know the meaning of. The basic idea is that Britain is at the centre of the world. It's the same idiocy 60 years later. Frankly you might as well talk about the British Way and Purpose.

    Mustn't ask why NATO still exists. I'm reading a novel by the recently retired NATO deputy supreme commander in Europe (DSACEUR), British general Richard Shirreff. It's appallingly badly written, but that isn't its most frightening feature. The Oundle-educated creep is basically calling for war with Russia next year.

    If the strategic position really were as he paints it (it isn't), it would make sense to meet with Russia and discuss security guarantees for BOTH the Baltic states AND Kaliningrad. But no. This guy and the men at RUSI who are promoting his book want nuclear war. And soon. You have been warned.

    Still carrying on with this bollocks about the UK being an outpost of the US I see. Did someone steal one of your relatives off to Guantanamo Bay? It is the only excuse I can think of for you spouting this garbage.
    It is not garbage and the fact you only offer bluster rather than a counter-argument is telling.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,311
    edited June 2016
    Didn't the UK stay well clear of Vietnam when things kicked off in 1963?
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
    Thats how you categorise it. Ask the farmers in Norfolk who cannot get brits to pull the crops..

    Leave is full of lies, but so are Remain. The difference is that Leave are xenophobic in many of the things they say. Go and talk to some leavers on the street and all they say is that they want to stop immigration/ kick migrants out.. That's it.. its a one subject agenda.
    -phobia: a disproportionate or irrational fear.

    It's becoming fashionable at the moment, isn't it? Homophobic. Transphobic. Xenophobic. Makes you sound clever. Also, if you're using it, it means that you aren't whatever it is. I am tolerant, you are somethingphobic.

    Whether we like it or not, there's a good chunk of people who have every reason to be fearful about mass immigration. Moreover, they would be stupid not to be.

    Naturally, you'll keep using the term, because, as noted in passing, it makes you sound clever and virtuous. It also means you don't have to actually think about the issues. A lovely mixture of self regard and laziness. Thinkophobic, even.
  • Options
    GoupillonGoupillon Posts: 79

    Goupillon said:

    Lets get the nett cost of being in the EU (£140m per week) into perspective - this cost is about £2 a week for the each of the approx 70 million of us living in the UK. I do not buy the Sun, Express or Daily Mail but I am told the cost per week for taking any of these "admirable organs" is considerably more than this. So why are some people so upset about the amount of money we are currently paying to the EU? I wonder how many new hospitals could be built with the amount of money that people could save if they stopped buying these newspapers?

    So you are proposing taxing people extra to make up for what we send to the EU? Not the brightest Remainder idea I have heard this year.
    No - I was making an ironic comment based on some of the material I have read in Leave's campaign literature.
  • Options
    another_richardanother_richard Posts: 25,082

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
    Thats how you categorise it. Ask the farmers in Norfolk who cannot get brits to pull the crops..

    Leave is full of lies, but so are Remain. The difference is that Leave are xenophobic in many of the things they say. Go and talk to some leavers on the street and all they say is that they want to stop immigration/ kick migrants out.. That's it.. its a one subject agenda.
    So who did the Norfolk farmers get to pull the crops ten or twenty years ago ?

    I suppose the Norfolk working class would now be classified as wicked layabouts for wanting enough wages to pay the rent on a proper house instead of living a dozen to a wooden hut.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,311

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
    Thats how you categorise it. Ask the farmers in Norfolk who cannot get brits to pull the crops..

    Leave is full of lies, but so are Remain. The difference is that Leave are xenophobic in many of the things they say. Go and talk to some leavers on the street and all they say is that they want to stop immigration/ kick migrants out.. That's it.. its a one subject agenda.
    REMAIN are RACISTS because the present EU immigration rules favour predominantly white EU countries over predominantly non-white non-EU countries.

    RACIST REMAINERS!
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    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,817
    edited June 2016
    JamesP said:

    Does anyone know the timetable of opinion polls over the next few days? Are we due any tonight?



    Nobody can say for sure JP but it's very unusual to get polls on a Sunday evening so I think not.

    Wednesday will be a big polling day as all the copanies produce their final polls before the vote.

    There might be polls at any point though, so watch this space...
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,335

    perdix said:
    There is no balance in that article at all.

    Both the headline and the first two sentences cut straight to the Economist's chase.
    It reminded me why I stopped buying the Economist years ago. There was a dearth of real knowledge behind its writing. It is as if all its journalists have been replaced with 22 year olds straight after university and have no depth and no sense of the economic laws that operate in the real world.
    Actually, I was the same.

    It wasn't that I disagreed with them (actually, I'm ok with that) I just felt the quality of journalism was poor, particularly on politics.

    I managed to prove a few of the Economist's facts "wrong", just by googling them. Then I lost confidence in them and stopped buying.
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    nunununu Posts: 6,024

      L
    E
    LEAVE
    V
    E
    That looks to be in the shape of a cross. Be careful the remainders will call u xenophobic.
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    GIN1138 said:
    Hear hear.

    I also noticed the are you for in or out quiz came out 70/30 leave when I voted.

    I know it is Voodoo with a capital V but wasnt expecting that at the Mirror.
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    notmenotme Posts: 3,293

    PlatoSaid said:

    John_M said:

    perdix said:
    I found it lazy and thoughtless - the over-used trope of 'post-truth politics' is driving me mental at the moment.

    Both major UK parties are to blame for failing to ensure that the impact of mass migration did not damage the working poor (or however you want to classify them).

    They've had years to do so, and did not. Further (and this has continued right through the campaign), a large section of those who have prospered continue to just shriek 'racist' at every conceivable opportunity.

    This is not post-truth politics. It's this-is-what-happens-when-you-ignore-half-your-voters politics.

    In conclusion, I'd like to say: this is not rocket science, for fuck's sake.
    CLAPS
    Huh

    . Migrants do the jobs that the indigenous Brits won't.
    The usual casual bigotry and racism.

    Migrants do the jobs for lower pay and under worse conditions and in a more servile manner is what you should have said.
    Quite. They dont get lippy or complain (as much) when they have unlawful deductions taken from their wages for things that locals would never allow.

    If all we had was seasonal agricultural workers I dont think we would really be in this state. We have around three million people living in the UK born in another EU state. 1.6 million of those arrived in the last six years.

    They're not seasonal and theyre not all picking fruit and veg.
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    marke09marke09 Posts: 926
    Nadine Dorries ‏@NadineDorriesMP 9m9 minutes ago

    Gillian Duffy hasn't met anyone in Rochdale who is voting to remain
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Ignore them...

    @guardian: Nobel prize-winning economists warn of long-term damage after Brexit https://t.co/X5pXwshbyl
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    John_N4John_N4 Posts: 553
    This sentence from the Economist article is a classic: "So long as Britain does not run away and hide, it has every reason to think that it will continue to have a powerful influence [in the EU], even over the vexed subject of immigration." Talk about disingenuous!
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    Paul_BedfordshirePaul_Bedfordshire Posts: 3,632
    edited June 2016

    perdix said:
    There is no balance in that article at all.

    Both the headline and the first two sentences cut straight to the Economist's chase.
    It reminded me why I stopped buying the Economist years ago. There was a dearth of real knowledge behind its writing. It is as if all its journalists have been replaced with 22 year olds straight after university and have no depth and no sense of the economic laws that operate in the real world.
    Actually, I was the same.

    It wasn't that I disagreed with them (actually, I'm ok with that) I just felt the quality of journalism was poor, particularly on politics.

    I managed to prove a few of the Economist's facts "wrong", just by googling them. Then I lost confidence in them and stopped buying.
    Sadly. That is a common problem. The best in depth articles can these days be found online written by interested amateurs - like our own Mr Herdsons effort above.

    Lets face it the only real difference between PB and Spectator/Economist is that they publish all their articles once a week while Mike drip feeds four or five per day - and gets more comments!
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    marke09marke09 Posts: 926
    I got pessimistic the last 48 hours that Remain would win but reading here and Politics section on Digital Spy am beginning to have optimism again that it might go Leave's way
This discussion has been closed.