Rabbie
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Posts posted by Rabbie
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Thanks for that helpful post
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I am a bit confused here. Last time I was near Oxford the nearest motorway was the M40 not the M1. Perhaps there has been an unadvertised change of motorway numbers that we in the southern UK have not been told about.
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There is certainly more overt recognition of foreigners in southern England than there was. Mrs Rabbie who has lived here for nearly 30 years and speaks good English has been asked aggressively several times since Brexit as to where she comes from by strangers. This never happened before and although not hate crime does not make for a pleasant experience. I would call it naive to deny the increase in hate crimes
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[quote user="NickP"]WB wrote: "you can stop trying to paper over the lies now, the UK lost the vote. "You are wrong my wooly friend the UK won the vote.[/quote]It remains to be seen whether the UK won or lost the vote. It seems possible from the utterances of several government ministers that Northern Ireland may be outside the controlled borders of Great Britain so the UK may become a sort of semi-detached country. It also remains to be seen what happens with Scotland. So much depends on the final terms of the deal before we can say who if anyone has won. The only concrete results I have seen so far is an increase in hate crime - not a win there IMO.
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[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Why move to France ?[/quote][quote user="mint"]Why not?Surely my question is just as valid (or not) as yours?[I][/quote]IMO both of these questions are equally valid and ones I have given a lot of thought to over the last few months. We have finally made the decision not to retire to France for a variety of reasons but mainly because we couldn't find the right place at the the right price and because we felt the language was going to be an issue especially as we got older and more forgetful.
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For me there are several factors that determine how much I would pay for a particular property.1) Location - both general and particular.2) Condition of the property3) Size of the property4) How much a particular property was the "right one" for me5) How easy it would be to sell if circumstances changed and I needed to moveTaken all in all this means for me that it is nonsensical to quote a standard cost per sq meter for a certain location. Just too many factors involved
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Trump becomes President on 20th January so we know by the end of April whether the wall is going to happen. I do notice that Trump has made very little mention of the wall since winning the election. It may be that all the talk of the wall was to win the election. Job done in that case.
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Gluestick, I listened to the full interview with Ken Clarke on Radio 4 yesterday lunchtime where he did indeed say he would vote against the application. He also said that he thought the majority of MPs would support the government in this vote.A majority of his constituents voted to Remain so I think he is respecting their wishes if he votes against the application. Also being at the end of his career he can ignore the whips and vote according to his conscience.
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I find it worrying that so many Brexiteers have so little faith in our parliamentary democracy.
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Gluestock, Ken Clarke tonight stated he thought it extremely unlikely that Parliament would block the invocation of Article 50. I suspect that he knows more about the mood at Westminster than you do
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The court decision was not about whether we implement Brexit or not. It was about how we implement Brexit. In the unlikely event that Parliament decides not to invoke Article 50 then there would be a General Election and the new Parliament would consider the matter again. That way we would know the irrevocable decision was indeed the will of the British People.
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Gluestick In the final analysis the Brexit vote was a narrow but decisive win for Brexit. We must all accept that and work towards getting the best possible result for the UK. It is not helpful when Brexiteers go on about Remoaners and other similar phrases. That attitude does not help to mend the rifts that exist. Since no clear post-Brexit strategy was mentioned during the campaign it would not be sensible to assume that all those who voted for Brexit wanted the same things. What I feel is reasonable is to assume that a Brexit vote was a vote for the UK to leave the political parts of the EU (Commission, Council of Ministers, European parliament, European Court) and to have more control of immigration. What is less clear given BoJo's claims that we could still have access to the single market is how much of a mandate there is for losing that access.Much has been made of the fact there is a democratic vote in favour of Brexit but no-one would expect Conservative MPs to support every proposal of a Labour government on those grounds or vice versa.I think it is now time for both sides to grow up and deal with this in an adult and sensible way
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[quote user="lindal1000"]Ireland has the fastest growing economy in Europe at the moment and is happily eyeing up the spoils it can grab from the City.Would the EU allow Ireland to negotiate a special arrangement with a non EU country? Would Ireland want to?[/quote]I do not think that Ireland would want to risk the Good Friday Peace settlement so I am sure Ireland would want to negotiate a way of keeping that going.
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Brexit is not only bad for the UK but also for the rest of the EU. The really bad effect is the drop in Sterling against the dollar with its effect on oil prices.
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If one accepts "no taxation without representation" then it follows logically that all tax payers should have the vote even if they are not citizens. Clearly this can lead to absurdities if taken to extremes but where do you draw the line? Also do you allow citizens who do not pay tax to vote? Which taxes should be counted for voting for voting purposes? The issue is clearly not as simple as it initially appears.Should non-residents have a say in who governs the country when they have voted with their feet to leave the country. The ex-pats were only given the vote by Thatcher because she believed on balance it would favour the Conservatives.In any British General Election a majority of seats are unchanged so in reality a lot of votes have no effect so without electoral reform the system is flawed
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As someone who voted remain I think that because the people have voted for Brexit that should happen. I see no need for Parliament to vote on this and the application can be made using the Royal Prerogative. What is important is that we get the best possible result for the UK and those UK citizens living in other EU countries.
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Of course it will depend on the negotiations but before Sweden joined the EU there was a reciprocal health agreement in place so there is no reason why these could not be agreed.
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I learnt French at school up to Olevel over 55 years ago but never really used it for a long time after that. When I moved to Sweden as I picked Swedish I found I quite often inserted the French word instead of the Swedish one which caused a bit of confusion. I found it much easier to read and write Swedish than speaking and understanding it. Speaking was the hardest bit to pick up. With French I find the hardest is to understand spoken French unless the speaker talks deliberately slowly. I now also have a tendency to insert Swedish words with predictable effects.I do think that immersion in a language is the best way to get it into your head. I also firmly believe that you should speak the language of the country you are living in.
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Surely the 27 countries who currently want to remain in the EU are entitled to meet to discuss their future strategy without the UK being present. After all if Brexit means Brexit as we have been assured it does then the EU has to plan for a future without the UK. I would not expect EU representatives to be present at any UK meeting to decide our negotiating strategy. I suspect that because any EU country or the EU parliament can veto any deal made between the UK and EU that the final deal will not have any major concessions and will be very close to WTO terms with no special access to the "free market" or financial passporting. We will have full control on immigration but at the cost of having to get visa-waivers. What will happen with the Eire-NI border remains to be seen
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[quote user="powerdesal"]People who voted to leave the EU do not need to justify their vote. Neither do the remainers need to justify their vote .Suffice to say more people voted out than voted in - democracy rules.[/quote]Popular policies are not always the correct ones. For example Chamberlain's appeasement policy in the 1930s was supported by a very large percentage of the population. With hindsight we can see that it was flawed. That is why I am not in favour of referenda even when they give the result I want. Many issues are too complex to be broken down into a simple yes/no. However I do think the government should respect the result when a referendum has been called. What is important now is to get the best possible outcome for the final deal.
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Wilson left the House in 1983 eleven years before he died. Churchill remained an MP until shortly before he died. I don't think he ever spoke in the house after he stepped down as PM.Personally I think Cameron has done the right thing in resigning. After having had the top job would you want to be a plain backbencher again with little or no influence on events.I have never seen the logic in the idea that those who cause the mess should clear it up assuming of course that they didn't intend to cause the mess. In my experience a new broom does a better job
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To be fair to the kids the problem often lies with their parents who see disinclined to impose any discipline whatsoever. Most children want to know where the barriers are and will respect these provided the rules are enforced consistently. There does see to be a element in UK society that think that any rules do not apply to their children regardless of the disruption this causes to other people.
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[quote user="mint"]Edinburgh can also be tricky as some people say Edin-bo-ruh and others say Edinbruh[/quote] The locals tend to say Edinburry
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It made me smile. I might if I am feeling brave get Mrs Rabbie to try it or perhaps not.Names are of course even trickier. My favourites for catching people out are Cholmondley, Featherstonehaugh and Kirkcudbright.
A strange silence .....
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