Rabbie

[quote user="woolybanana"]Let me help you herte: England were bowled out for 35, Australia have so far made 572 for 1! Do you really wanna watch it?[/quote]Full marks for accuracy in your reporting. Have you ever considered working for the Daily Wail?

[quote user="idun"]Dear me, didn't you know that in France, IF your local church has one............. it protects the whole village!!!! as said to the children in our village school by the teachers![:-))] [/quote]There are two main dangers from lightning. A direct strike on your property and a direct strike on the power lines. The lightning conductor on a church will if it is the tallest building in the area will tend to attract the direct strikes so protecting the surrounding village.   It is for the strike on the power lines that you need the parafoudres.  

[quote user="woolybanana"]Ah, white van man and his woman strike again![/quote] Be careful WB or you will have the WVM protection society down on you[:D]

[quote user="Rabbie"] [quote user="dave21478"]Nope. FuCKING PATHETIC! All that effort put into a shiny new look for the forum and IT IS STILL NOT COMPATIBLE WITH GOOGLE CHROME, THE MOST POPULAR INTERNET BROWSER IN EXISTENCE.. Oh and speaking of a shiny new look for the forum what fucking imbecile designed this one? You know what forums are for? serious question to the web designers - do you know what the point of this forum is? I will clue you in.....its for people to discuss things via the medium of text. So how about NOT HAVING ALL THE TEXT CRAMMED INTO THE CENTRAL THIRD OF THE SCREEN WITH THE REST OF THE SPACE WASTED ON POINTLESS SH1TE LIKE BACKGROUND IMAGES AND MASSIVE ICONS NOBODY IS EVER GOING TO CLICK.[/quote] Using IE to look at the forum I no longer have the text crammed into the middle third. It now fills the whole width of the screen so it looks like someone has listened to you, Dave. [/quote]Now using Chrome and it is cramming the text as per Dave's Screen shot. Unfortunately the Quote function is not compatible with Chrome or my ipad. Just get a mass of raw HTML. Quote seems to work with IE. I have just ran a forum page through the W3 validator and it only threw up 548 errors. Why don't they correct the coding faults rather than play around with the look. Get the basics right and then the rest will be much easier to fix

[quote user="dave21478"]Nope. FuCKING PATHETIC! All that effort put into a shiny new look for the forum and IT IS STILL NOT COMPATIBLE WITH GOOGLE CHROME, THE MOST POPULAR INTERNET BROWSER IN EXISTENCE.. Oh and speaking of a shiny new look for the forum what fucking imbecile designed this one? You know what forums are for? serious question to the web designers - do you know what the point of this forum is? I will clue you in.....its for people to discuss things via the medium of text. So how about NOT HAVING ALL THE TEXT CRAMMED INTO THE CENTRAL THIRD OF THE SCREEN WITH THE REST OF THE SPACE WASTED ON POINTLESS SH1TE LIKE BACKGROUND IMAGES AND MASSIVE ICONS NOBODY IS EVER GOING TO CLICK.[/quote] Using IE to look at the forum I no longer have the text crammed into the middle third. It now fills the whole width of the screen so it looks like someone has listened to you, Dave.

The pound seems to be stronger at present. I don't think the euro will recover much until there is some sort of deal. Of course if I really knew the answer I would be rich

[quote user="NormanH"]I don't think you needed the accountant. parsnips is the tops when it comes to tax.... [/quote]Excellent as I know Parsnip is on these matters, I suspect a French accountant carries more weight with French civil servants. Anyway I am glad you got the result you were hoping for.[:)]

[quote user="idun"]It is currently some sort of invasion of the EU, as with all invasions, maybe should be repelled and the french should do something about these invaders on their territory. [/quote] Then let us at least applaud the strikers who seem to be doing their best to prevent any traffic of immigrants to the UK. [6]

Remember that you may need to change your headlamps so they dip correctly for driving on the left otherwise you will not pass the MOT. You will need valid insurance so you can take your car to be MOT'd

At this time of year there often a lot of juvenile birds around. Have you tried checking if it could be a juvenile goldfinch?

Winston Churchill was one of those who thought the best prospect of European peace lay in creating a "United States of Europe" so the idea of European Union was already in the open.

[quote user="idun"]Remember Rabbie, every last bit of income we have is from France at the moment, so our situation is rather different to most others on this board. As I said, we cannot live on fresh air and would have to live where is best for us.[/quote] I agree that your situation is different from the majority of board users. That is why I am confused as to why you would vote in a way the might be injurious to you. [quote user="idun"] And hypocritical, well, we voted against EEC in the early 70's, both of us and yet we still moved to France when people in general were not making such a move. And even then our circumstances were not as other people's either. [/quote]Apologies for using the word "hypocritical". It was not the correct word but it was written fairly late in the evening and I should have used "idiosyncratic" which I think sums up your position. To return to the original question. "What will happen if Britain leaves the EU". Well nobody can give a definitive answer since we don't know how the EU will react to our leaving. We will also not know what would have happened if we had stayed in. It is certain things would change in either case  because we live in a changing world. By leaving we would lose influence obviously with the EU but also, it has been hinted by Obama, with the USA. My gut feeling is that domestically it will not make as much difference either good or bad as both sides of the argument imply. I remember working in London before we joined the EEC and the UK then was no haven of peace and prosperity. There is no magic solution to all the economic problems and I am not convinced that further austerity is the solution. It all very well to say we are all in it together and then sink taxes for the high earners when the low earners are struggling to find houses they can afford.

[quote user="idun"]What facts, who exactly is going to give us the real facts and no matter what happens those slippery eels of politians will probably twist anything that happens anyway.......... no matter the vote.[/quote] In the final analysis we will have to use our common sense to decide who we believe is telling us the truth and base our decision on that. After all that is what we expect jury members to do. [quote user="idun"] The ignorant or the well educated will not, as far as I can see be in too different a situation where this is concerned. The big difference being that the educated will, after it has all turned to la bouse, be able to justify their vote, by stating those 'facts' that they based their decision on. We are mid channel with our affairs and to safeguard income would move to another EU country, because for all I hate the EU in it's current form, we cannot live on fresh air when all is said and done and I am a very practical person. [/quote]On a personal level my decision will be based on what I believe to be in the best interests of the UK but also what I believe to be the best interests of myself and my family. Hopefully there will be no conflict between these. Hopefully everyone else will also vote along these lines even if they see a different result as being the correct thing.  Regardless of the final result I hope everybody will respect the democratic verdict and live with the consequences. I would regard it as being hypocritical if people resident in the UK leave the UK because the vote goes the way they voted. People must be prepared to live with the consequences of their decision and not run away from it.    

It does seem that some asylum seekers have been dispersed to the NE. Using google I found these figures for 2013. It would appear that this has taken place openly and not "under cover of darkness".

[quote user="Frederick"]I imagine the French boys in blue sitting back and watching the antics of migrants in Calais along with the striking ferry workers and doing next to nothing to deal with the situation , as shown on the TV news. Is doing more to convince the UK voter to to put his cross down for EU exit tnan any political party could .[/quote] Why would the French police be more vigilant in stopping migrants if the UK leaves the EU? I suspect they would be even more uninterested in those circumstances so anyone voting for a brexit on those grounds would surely be very disappointed.

Interesting article here on the future of the EU. How likely is a Marine Le Pen victory next year

Chassis, why do you keep muddying the waters with scare tactics. The only immigrants that the EU forces us to take are other EU citizens looking for work. The illegal immigrants which are the real cause of the problem will not be affected by our membership or not. Of course there is a risk that if we leave then France and other EU countries may be less vigilant in stopping this traffic. If as many who wants us to leave are correct and the UK becomes a new paradise on earth then even more immigrants will want to come and given our track record on control then there is yet another argument in favour of staying in.

I am proud to be British and also proud to be Scots. This does not mean I dislike English people. If I did, I wouldn't live where I do. When the referendum comes I will vote for the option I think is best for Britain. This may not be the same as others who are also voting for what they perceive to be the best. There does seem to be a certain irony in the year we celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta that we are considering leaving the European Court of Human Rights. This organisation was pushed by Churchill after the war as a way of ensuring those rights were guaranteed across Europe. It is easy to criticise those decisions that protect people who we do not agree with but I would be surprised if anyone who has a legitimate claim does not feel their rights should be protected. Remember that no decision of one parliament in the UK is binding on its successor. Any law passed this year can be cancelled next year or at any time in the future by perfectly legal means. The Royal Veto has not been used in more than 300 years and then because the government of the day was responding to changed circumstances. It is inconceivable it would ever be used again without the consent of the government.

[quote user="chessie"]For heavens sake - for supposedly adult, intelligent people - I have been disappointed in any kind of argument about In/Out of the EU. Childish comments, with the first post - 'bloody Tories' - OK - in the interests of fiarness how about the LimpyDumbos, and the RedMarxist Champagne Socialist party (but NOT for the Workers any more).    OK that's the rude, childish bit over.[/quote] Unfortunately not. [quote user="chessie"]  The AV was just a sop to the lefty wefties [/quote] There you go again. [quote user="chessie"]   the Champagne Socialists love it [/quote]and again. I was always taught that two wrongs do not make a right so why do you keep repeating the type of remark you correctly condemn as childish rubbish. Don't you have any better arguments to use. Or is it a case of "Do as you say not as you do" [quote user="chessie"]And that means leaving the EU;  how many of you are aware that the EU is in process of having its own Army - to be called in by any EU country in times of crises.    So we could see the Germans marching into Greece, the French marching into Spain - how many of you are aware of that ?    Does that feel right to you ? Go on - counter any of the above points.   TTIP for one;  EU Army for another........ Let's get back to the original question - not all this harping on about Cameron, Cleggy, Millepeed AV etc etc.   Childish rubbish. [/quote]Why do you assume that an EU army would be under the control of an individual aggressive country and not under the control of the EU itself. Lets face it we have something very similar with NATO and I haven't seen too many invasions in my lifetime which is longer than NATO's

[quote user="ebaynut"]Lindal1000 wrote, I don't disagree with some of what you say. However this discussion is taking place on a forum who's target audience is people living in or about to live in or about to buy a property in France so don't be surprised if there are quite a lot of people who don't share your view. On the contrary, on a forum like this for UK citizens' living overseas, I would expect my views to be quite solitary ones. I am hearted by the number of people on here opposed to the EU, not Europe of course , as they are too different things. I am really amazed anyone would see the EU as a good thing. Who would wish to be told how to live their life by a parliament they could not change at the ballot box??[/quote]The EU parliament is elected and so can be changed by the electorate. It may well be that the blocs gaining a majority are not those you would vote for but that is democracy. For me the part of the EU constitution I find the most difficult to accept is the power given to the Council of Ministers made up by representatives of each member government. It might be better if the EU parliament had more power not less. After all 64% of us who voted in the UK general election last month have got a government we did not vote for but that is the system we as a people decided on and we have to accept the result.  

"lindal1000 said If I'm not mistaken, in the General Elections only British citizens can vote, whereas in local elections it is all those legally resident. On that basis UKIP should have done better in the General election, where non British immigrants were not allowed to vote, than in the local ones... where recent immigrants who have not been naturalized, are able to vote. Not quite right. According to the UKgovernment website the following are Allowed to vote in General elections. UK citizens, commonwealth citizens who are living in the UK and citizens of the Irish Republic living in the UK. In local elections citizens of EU countries can also vote but UKcitizens who live abroad are not allowed to vote.

[quote user="gardengirl "]It sounds as though all 3 of you are lucky, so good to hear this good news. We celebrated a year since my cancer op by going out for a lovely meal last week. Our toast each time we have a drink since last year has been '' better health'; I'll think of the 3 of you in our toast at lunch tomorrow. We're all very lucky.[/quote]I will raise my glass to "Good health and happiness" for all my friends both real and in cyberspace.

Really glad to hear both your good news. You have really cheered  me up with your news. I had a bit of health scare myself recently but fortunately I have been given the all clear earlier this week and it is really nice to hear that other people have also had good news

I have one simple reason for not voting UKIP. It is because I am in favour of the UK remaining in the EU. Nigel Farage seems to me the sort of person one can have a pleasant chat to in the pub while enjoying a pint. Discussing politics eg without ever coming to any sort of agreement. Now some of the evidence suggests that the real NF is not really this sort of person but he projects his nice image well. As NickP says he is an effective speaker and I was surprised he didn't get elected. However the disparity between the total number of UKIP votes and the actual number of MPs elected shows the undemocratic nature of our electoral system. It is clearly absurd that gaining 36% of the votes gives you a majority or that gaining 49% of the votes gives you 95% of the seats. No wonder people are loosing faith in the democratic process when this occurs. Too many safe seats do not encourage people to take part.

I saw in my paper this morning that 74% of Greeks want to stay in the Euro. Possibly this is because if Greece reverts to the Drachma they will have to exchange their stash of Euros thus alerting the authorities to how much they have. IMO the Greek problem can only be solved by Greece implementing structural reforms and a significant part of the debt being written off. I do not think either of these is likely to happen. The greeks seem very opposed to reform and it would not be fair on countries like Ireland that have to a very large extent solved their problems. Besides it would act as a bad example to any Eurozone country running into difficulties in the future.