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ernie

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Posts posted by ernie

  1. You know, IMNSHO, something like +/- 80 cars torched EVERY DAY, mainly in certain easily identifiable areas in France has nothing whatsoever to do with vile, rampant public drunkenness in the UK, honestly, there is no link. Nothing, they are not connected in reality. They are separate. They belong in discrete paragraphs. But it sure is a great way to sidetrack a very embarrassing set of facts, is it not ? Look, it is an irrefutable arithmetical fact that even 10 cars torched every day is much worse than 1000 torched on NYE, whether in the process of insurance fraud or boredom, or politics or whatever else.

    Who was it who said “breakdown” anyway ? Only one person I can find and it’s not that fellow Gluestick either. To make an irrelevant out-of-line statement, then to disprove it, then to make an issue out of a non-issue is an ancient technique which often works, but not always. Lol.

    Here’s another beauty : “Started off as probably a prank in Strasbourg” - please tell us more about this theory. Where is it reported, I would like to know. Pretty please ?

    “But this is not confined to year years eve, it happens every weekend of the year in the UK up and down the country”

    Wow ! Really and truly ? A slight touch of embellishment there, methinks, tinged with the delicate overtones of hyperbole. But irrelevant once more.

    Chancer did talk about broken down cars but only one person wrote about a broken society and it wasn’t the ultra-cool ernie, nor the even cooler Gluestick either.

  2. OK, so substitute contemporary for modern. Same deal. It is immoral and is the same as theft in my book yet I find no overt condemnation. But what the heck - everyone does it so that makes it OK, Non ?

    Still I seek the missing link between insurance fraud in Nova Scotia (now I know where it is/was) and the continual burning of cars in France. That's a difficut one for me.

    When I understand that, I will try and come up with the link to November bonfires, you got me beat fair and square there, but I am a simple soul au fond.
  3. In fact “32.710 voitures brûlées in one year” suggests to me lots of people in France do, in fact, “think that burning cars is a good idea”. Up to 90 every day (this was in 2010).

    Sarkozy did not agree, so he banned publication of the facts and figures. Quite often politicos ban the truth. It makes life less stressful, except for the car owners.

    Interesting to get some first-hand info about modern versions of barratry in Nova Scotia, wherever that might be. Looks like police connivance to me.

  4. So 1000 in one night is not that many ??? Are you sober ?

    Just go ahead and list all the other countries in the world, Is-lamb-ic and otherwise where this is normal, year after burning year please.

    “Many years ago I wanted to park our car in a suburb of Orleans to see if someone would kindly get rid of it for me.”

    Oh, I see – right, so that might explain in part why motor insurance premiums have risen – again – this year ? What’s the phrase ? Constructive something or other ? Just asking, yer know worrI mean ? No-one, angry or not, can burn a car which is nor there.

    “If you want to worry about something, Germany has a few serious problems.“

    Well, I defo do not want to worry about “Germany’s serious problems”, inflicted deliberately and defiantly by their illustrious Leader, so I’ll pass that one, Thank you very kindly. Things are much, much worse in la Belle France, I’d say.

    But, look, come on folks, some good people really do need to inform themselves. This noble tradition of openly burning (other) people’s cars on the street, is restricted, in the main, to a certain identifiable section of the community. It has been going on for years and years. Annual figures are horrific, at least to my mind, but then I park in places where I do not seek for my car to be set on fire so that I can make a dodgy insurance claim, I must be quite stupid Non ? The figures this year are typical, if slightly reduced below normal, possibly reflecting the incredible number of security forces on streets, poor things.

    I am so desperately sorry to provide references (I know some do not like proof …) but take a look here :

    From The Times , October 21, 2006 : Why 112 cars are burning every day.

    A year after the Paris riots violence and despair continue to grip the immigrant suburbs

    By Charles Bremner

    FLAMES lick around a burning car on a tiny telephone screen. Omar, 17, a veteran of France’s suburban riots, replayed the sequence with pride. “It was great. We did lots of them and then we went out and torched more the next day.”

    Omar, whose parents immigrated from Mali, was savouring memories of the revolt that erupted 12 months ago from his home, the Chêne Pointu estate in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern outskirts of Paris. “We’re ready for it again. In fact it hasn’t stopped,” he added. Before next week’s anniversary of the Clichy riots, the violence and despair on the estates are again to the fore. Despite a promised renaissance, little has changed, and the lid could blow at any moment.

    The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.

    “The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists.”

    Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police. Sebastian Roche, a sociologist who has published a book on the riots, said that torching a vehicle had become a standard amusement. “There is an apprenticeship of destruction. Kids learn where the petrol tank is, how to make a petrol bomb,” he told The Times.

    Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister who hopes to win the presidency next May, has once again taken the offensive, staging raids on the no-go areas and promising no mercy for the thugs who reign there.

    With polls showing law and order as the top public concern, his presidential chances hang on his image as a tough cop.

    M Sarkozy’s muscular approach is being challenged not just by Socialist opponents. President Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, his Prime Minister, are waging their own, softer, campaign to undermine the colleague whom they do not want to be president. M de Villepin called in community leaders this week and promised to accelerate hundreds of millions of pounds of measures that were promised last autumn to relieve the plight of the immigrant-dominated suburbs.

    National politics seem far from Clichy, a leafy town of hulking apartment buildings only ten miles but a universe away from the Elysée Palace. However, the Interior Minister is cited by the estate youths as the symbol of their anger. “Sarko wants to wipe us out, clear us off the map,” said Rachid, 19. “They said they would help us after last year, but we’ve got nothing.”

    Rachid is to attend a march next Friday for Zyed and Bouna, the teenagers whose deaths in an electrical station sparked the rioting that engulfed the Seine-Saint-Denis département, known from its registration number, 93, as le Neuf-Trois. The boys, aged 17 and 15, who were hiding from police when they were electrocuted, are seen in Clichy as martyrs. Amor Benna, 61, the Tunisian father of Zyed, appealed this week to the young to refrain from violence and use their votes for change. “I don’t want to see cars burning again,” he said from his home on the Chêne Pointu estate. But the unhappiness was understandable, said M Benna, a street cleaner. “The young were born here and they are French. But they have nothing. The real problem is work. If they had any these riots would not have happened.”

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article607860.ece

    “Many years ago I wanted to park our car in a suburb of Orleans to see if someone would kindly get rid of it for me.”

    Oh, I see – right, so that might explain in part why motor insurance premiums have risen – again – this year ? What’s the phrase ? Constructive something or other ? Just asking, yer know worrI mean ?

    “If you want to worry about something, Germany has a few serious problems.“

    Well, I defo do not want to worry about “Germany’s serious problems”, inflicted deliberately and defiantly by their illustrious Leader, so I’ll pass that one, Thank you very kindly. Things are much, much worse in la Belle France, I’d say.

    But, look, some good people really do need to inform themselves. This noble tradition of openly burning (other) people’s cars on the street, is restricted, in the main, to a certain identifiable section of the community. It has been going on for years and years. Annual figures are horrific, at least to my mind, but then I park in paces where I do not want my car to be set on fire so that I can make a dodgy insurance claim, I must be quite stupid Non ? The figures this year are typical, if slightly reduced below normal, possibly reflecting the incredible number of security forces on streets, poor things.

    I am so desperately sorry to provide references (I know some do not like proof …) but take a look here :

    From The Times , October 21, 2006 : Why 112 cars are burning every day.

    A year after the Paris riots violence and despair continue to grip the immigrant suburbs

    By Charles Bremner

    FLAMES lick around a burning car on a tiny telephone screen. Omar, 17, a veteran of France’s suburban riots, replayed the sequence with pride. “It was great. We did lots of them and then we went out and torched more the next day.”

    Omar, whose parents immigrated from Mali, was savouring memories of the revolt that erupted 12 months ago from his home, the Chêne Pointu estate in Clichy-sous-Bois, in the eastern outskirts of Paris. “We’re ready for it again. In fact it hasn’t stopped,” he added. Before next week’s anniversary of the Clichy riots, the violence and despair on the estates are again to the fore. Despite a promised renaissance, little has changed, and the lid could blow at any moment.

    The figures are stark. An average of 112 cars a day have been torched across France so far this year and there have been 15 attacks a day on police and emergency services. Nearly 3,000 police officers have been injured in clashes this year. Officers have been badly injured in four ambushes in the Paris outskirts since September. Some police talk of open war with youths who are bent on more than vandalism.

    “The thing that has changed over the past month is that they now want to kill us,” said Bruno Beschizza, the leader of Synergie, a union to which 40 per cent of officers belong. Action Police, a hardline union, said: “We are in a civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists.”

    Car-burning has become so routine on the estates that it has been eclipsed in news coverage by the violence against police. Sebastian Roche, a sociologist who has published a book on the riots, said that torching a vehicle had become a standard amusement. “There is an apprenticeship of destruction. Kids learn where the petrol tank is, how to make a petrol bomb,” he told The Times.

    Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister who hopes to win the presidency next May, has once again taken the offensive, staging raids on the no-go areas and promising no mercy for the thugs who reign there.

    With polls showing law and order as the top public concern, his presidential chances hang on his image as a tough cop.

    M Sarkozy’s muscular approach is being challenged not just by Socialist opponents. President Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, his Prime Minister, are waging their own, softer, campaign to undermine the colleague whom they do not want to be president. M de Villepin called in community leaders this week and promised to accelerate hundreds of millions of pounds of measures that were promised last autumn to relieve the plight of the immigrant-dominated suburbs.

    National politics seem far from Clichy, a leafy town of hulking apartment buildings only ten miles but a universe away from the Elysée Palace. However, the Interior Minister is cited by the estate youths as the symbol of their anger. “Sarko wants to wipe us out, clear us off the map,” said Rachid, 19. “They said they would help us after last year, but we’ve got nothing.”

    Rachid is to attend a march next Friday for Zyed and Bouna, the teenagers whose deaths in an electrical station sparked the rioting that engulfed the Seine-Saint-Denis département, known from its registration number, 93, as le Neuf-Trois. The boys, aged 17 and 15, who were hiding from police when they were electrocuted, are seen in Clichy as martyrs. Amor Benna, 61, the Tunisian father of Zyed, appealed this week to the young to refrain from violence and use their votes for change. “I don’t want to see cars burning again,” he said from his home on the Chêne Pointu estate. But the unhappiness was understandable, said M Benna, a street cleaner. “The young were born here and they are French. But they have nothing. The real problem is work. If they had any these riots would not have happened.”

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article607860.ece

    [quote user="alittlebitfrench"]For the benefit of Gluey it did start in Strasbourg in the 90's.......or possibly the 80's. To be fair, 1000 cars across the whole of France is not that many. Especially when I guess most are burnt to order like Chancer said. Many years ago I wanted to park our car in a suburb of Orleans to see if someone would kindly get rid of it for me.

    So you can sleep well tonight knowing it is not social unrest in France.

    If you want to worry about something, Germany has a few serious problems.[/quote]
  5. Thanks Gluestick for that delightful musical interlude, but, returning to our topic – and having watched the disgraceful Cazeneuve preening himself alongside the most powerful person in the western world before the assorted media, all delighted to have something new to describe, I then read this :

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9174/france-decomposing

    and wondered what we should all take from it ? Are the Gendarmes and the Police simply cowards ? Or are they merely racists/homophobists/panicists/fascists/extreme-right wingerists or what ?

    Is the article a panic-generating operation, as was the freaking (that is not meant to be a synonym, BTW) panicists bleating for Remain ? (I see “Britain's most influential historian Niall Ferguson” aw the world famous has admitted “'I was wrong about Brexit!'”).

    What’s next in line for us all ?

  6. Well, I always try to include a link when I quote people, because of this weird notion I have it adds a little credulity to anything I decide to post. I reckon it’s better than saying "That's what I heard, go check it out on DuckDuckGo for yourself", IMNSHO, but - Who am I to judge ? Each to his or her own I guess.

    OTOH, when it comes to spending taxpayer money with reckless abandon, what I call "Showing contempt for those who put you into a seat of almost complete omnipotence" , Hollande is way down the list of esurient trough-gobblers***. #1 contender at present seems to be Mr B Hussein Obama, who has spent - and is still spending whatever he can - over $10,000,000 per year on family holidays. That’s about $85M in his two terms. Beat that Flamby.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-family-travel-vacations-cross-85-million-mark/article/2608882

    *** As reported, more than once, in every single French newspaper, on TV, in hundreds and hundreds of blogs, Hollande pays his own personal tonsorial stylist the princely sum of €10 grand per calendar month. Whether or not he’s getting his money’s worth is open to discussion, moi - I don’t pay mine a centime more than €150 per visit, lol. No tax, as it’s sous le manteau.

  7. [quote user="mint"]"I have seen first hand what a determined president can do."

    Yes, id, I have heard that the French president is just about the most powerful person in the western world, more powerful than the American president, more powerful than the UK Prime Minister.

    So you are right, a determined president can certainly change things, if he (will it be a she in France?) can drive through changes.

    [/quote]

    "Speaking after his win, Hollande said that the French had vote for "change."

    François Hollande was absolutely useless, in fact, worse than useless. And, apart from his glaring incompetency, he made a total fool of himself and denigrated the presidency of France when he used to slip out of the two-up and three-down to go a-visiting, hiding behind his crash helmet, back-seating with the adorable Julie on a Vespa or similar. He was then and always will be, a figure of fun.

    What is completely unforgiveable is his point-blank refusal to make any attempt whatsoever to stop the increasing Islamisation of France. Anyone who has been in one of these places will immediately recognise what I am referring to. If not, take a look here

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5128/france-no-go-zones

    : Result – France is at war. Although it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM of course.

    Not only is he incompetent, he is a devout moral coward.

    “Yes, id, I have heard that the French president is just about the most powerful person in the western world, more powerful than the American president, more powerful than the UK Prime Minister.”

    Who on earth told you that ? Was it Ms Trierweiler ? Or was it Hollande ?

  8. [quote user="woolybanana"]ernie, what do you expect? It is winter, toms are a summer and autumn veggie (or fruit, if you like) so are bound to be artificial at this time of year.

    Don't you remember years ago when you were a kid, they simply did not exist at all in November to March, even if your ma sent you out in your little shorts, with blackened scabbed, knees running along the cobbled streets to beg the greengrocers to give you what they did not have.

    Apparently, they painted some apples red so you wouldn't be scared to go home to your ma who would have wacked you if you'd gone back empty handed.[/quote]

    Are not the Spanish tomatoes grown in whatsits, plastic tunnels, fed with nourishing chemicals and drip-fed with the purest water recycling can provide ?

    My mother never subjected us to child abuse and we all wore longs from birth, as we were very upper class, Thank you very much.

    The costermongers would appear daily in front of the Château, according to a complex roster and it was they who would do the imploring.

    The description of "blackened knees" falls within the "hate laws" and you may expect a visit soon from a team of legal eagles. We all know where you live.

  9. [quote user="Patf"]Isn't it a bit late to be picking tomatoes? I picked ours (grappes) months ago.

    It depends where you live, but it could be just too cold for outside tomatoes where you are.

    My friend gave me some large green ones about 2 months ago, the last of her crop. They've been ripening in our open barn and now look ready to be cooked, tomato sauce.

    [/quote]

    Ummm, perhaps I should have Mentioned "in the store" in my post. Don't tantalise me, please, be reasonable.

    My own last crop of beautiful tomatoes were annihilated by three days of sharp frosts. Several kilos lost, lost I tell you, many neighbours' as well. The picture on my face would have broken the heartstrings of, well, a wool-wrapped banana. It gets mighty cold in the Ardennes you know.
  10. Has anyone else experienced “short-lasting” tomatoes ? Lately we find, round our way, they last three days at the most. Some don’t even make 48 hours. I refer to the standard grappe.

    The cherry toms seem to last longer, but now and again you can find one with a sort of “Christmas white wrapping” round it, it’s defo not snow.

    The “special” tomatoes, such as the Ukrainian type, are so soggy soft, even in the store I hesitate to pick one up to check for fear of my fingers becoming covered in goo. Also, the sales assistant keeps a serious eye on me when I’m around, I think M. LC has my number and my DNA too, so I don't push my luck.

    I’m well used to the bland taste of the Spanish tomatoes every supermarket sells, it’s the same in the markets too.

  11. A huge power struggle is taking place in the Middle East and, of course in Syria. The casualties of the fighting are atrocious, of course. Yet it's not a simple question of country "A" versus country "B", far from it.

    My own take is that it is not always a good idea to believe one country will always tell the truth, nor that another country will always lie. Uncertainty seems to be the rule, or practice anyway.

    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611181047591222-white-helmets-syria-schools-hospitals/

    https://sputniknews.com/us/201611191047615605-syria-russia-airstrikes-kirby-rt/

    I have seen (a) Syrian bishop(s) praising the Russians for helping the people of Aleppo regain their ancient city from Da'Esh/IS/ISIS. Who decides who to believe ?

    It's not rational, perhaps, to allege some states will, effectively, secede from the Union because some of them disagree wih the new President's policies. After all, he has had some of them for many long years, it's just that most people are uniformed about him. Thus :

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOKi5YeNtRI

    Check young Oprah too !

  12. There's a lot of powerful facts and good sensible thought there EBN, from Gluestick too, which makes a change from some posts, hilarious tho' they might be. Crow pie is not particularly digestible is it ?

    I just got this link in from Hillary herself, but if you don't admire DT, better not to click I'd venture.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNbF9PI9Gjo

    and this is informative :

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVDliwn0Xjg

    Bon weekend for everyone.
  13. [quote user="Cathar Tours"]

    [quote user="ernie"]Those imperious people consist of a self-elected political elite, with no commitment to democracy, with absolutely no need to answer to anyone and they are (much more than) a blight on the political landscape.[/quote]

     

    But the so are the Tories and Labour in the UK. We now have a new PM that nobody in the UK elected. People who would consider voting Labour at the next election if Corbyn was leader and have just joined the Labour party so they can vote for him to be leader have been told they will not be able to vote. Not a lot of democracy to be seen in either camp.

    [/quote]

    Sigh - again, the point has been missed completely : “Tories and Labour in the UK” do NOT legislate nor control 27 other countries affairs, so the point of this post eludes me. And how Corbyn crept in has me beat.

    In any case I shall not participate further, I do not appreciate the way things are going on this thread
  14. Chessie

    After reading quite a few “confusing” posts, yours is like a breath of fresh air – and not just because I agree with so much, but because it is grounded in facts. Thank you.

    The record of the EU is shameful, the lies, the rejected referendums, how can these all be ignored ? And why ? Don’t people care about such immorality any more ? How can Barroso go and work for Goldman Sachs ? That’s just rubbing people’s noses in the whatsit. Even Francois Hollande can see it.

    Maybe I have mentioned it before, my own motivation for the UK to escape from the all-powerful EU, EC and all the other kindred pig troughs/gravy trains is for the UK to regain its natural independence, instead of surrendering its laws, its regulations and all the rest to the hegemony in Brussels and Luxembourg. Those imperious people consist of a self-elected political elite, with no commitment to democracy, with absolutely no need to answer to anyone and they are (much more than) a blight on the political landscape. Is this attitude not natural for a people(UK) united for so long, with many differences to be sure, but so many more fine qualities uniting them all ? And a remarkable record to boot ?

    The ambitions of those directing the EU are hidden, maybe they have more reckless ideas (even though “Our Cathy” has gone – I hope) like the Ukraine becoming a “European state”, which was insanity and cost so many lives.

    There will be short term pain, just wait until the size of the Chinese problem is realised, 12% evaluation in 6 months, in spite of promises not to devalue. But there will be long-term gain, for the populace, I’m sure of it, transcending (important) personal concerns of house prices, currency fluctuations, payment of pensions and all the rest. For a large part, sheer inertia and workload will mean little will change directly, there is not the time, nor are the staff available, neither is the will to change there, necessarily.

    The big question is the true commitment of Mrs May to her task. Will she, can she, does she truly want to complete the Brexit agenda? And what exactly is the agenda ? She doesn’t know because she was Against Brexit, as everyone knows. Does anyoe actually know ? Please tell. That is the massive question or doubt.

    Having just seen the dreadful news from Nice, I want to stop right there andcompose myself. May the souls of those whose lives were taken from them so suddenly, rest in peace.

  15. Grecian, I agree with your first para, but not your "guess", No way. Mrs May is a wily woman and to give her complete trust is against my basic instincts.

    Reading comments, sometimes the impression is many haven’t a clue what is happening. “We didn’t understand”, “We didn’t know” and “Nobody told us”. Whose fault ? Nevertheless, some voted anyway. Like sticking a pin in a paper to find the Derby winner.

    Here’s another quotation (not from a glossary either). It’s in because it is apposite, as were the others :

    “We don’t know what we’re doing,” as Chesterton would say, “because we don’t know what we’re undoing.” Some have so separated themselves from their own patrimony that they now move, quite cheerfully, in complete obscurity, heedless of where they are headed. Not having a sense of where they were, it hardly matters where they end up. Like poor little Alice lost in Wonderland, they may learn too late that, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

    The way the EU is going is to ever closer political union. Undisputable fact. The days of brandishing the false banner of “Free Trade Union” are gone down the EU drain. They insist on a “one-size-fits-all” integration and that has been their objective for years, now it’s out in the open. Read what Tusk said a few days before the Referendum was held and know the future for Remaining.

    An example - In France, the Départements have been melded into new “Regions”. Were the French consulted ? Did they give their approval ? It’s the EU system. Almost exactly the same thing in effect and principle - regional centres or some such, was tried in the UK, master-minded (if “master” is the right word) by the repugnant buffoon Prescott, now ennobled. I think it foundered without trace, but can’t remember exactly.

    BTW, “UK” stands for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. It’s purely geographical, nothing to do with race colour or creed or politics.

    The French were mentioned. As a Nation (or “state”, the EU preferred term, as it’s avowedly against the concept of an independent Nation) they do very well out of the EU. President Hollande is petrified “Brexit” will mean the loss of the CAP ( France’s cash cow, as well as for the lady in Windsor, ½M€ ) and a further blow therefore to his forlorn hopes of “leading” France for another few years. The nightmare of rich burghers of Strasbourg is cancellation of the express gravy train which takes the EP, files and all, down to the Rhine every four weeks, at horrendous expense, then back to Brussels after four days, year after expensive year. MEPS voted to cancel this blatantly wasteful French privilege, but the EU vetoed their vote. An example of “EU independence” which ought never to be dismissed or forgotten.

    To acknowledge the heroes of the past, as at Thiepval and many other venues plus every November 11, is anything but wallowing in nostalgia, it’s to acknowledge a real debt to our forbears, acting with responsibility to the future world outside our own personal bubble of protection and interest.

    I could be persuaded to adopt a more benign view of the Brussels hegemony if some serious concern for REAL human rights and realistic corrective action, such as feeding the millions currently starving as malnutrition grips the poor people of Malawi. Why not ? Who could complain ?

    What about the eight years of inaction over the long-suffering Asia Bibi ? Condemned to death for “blasphemy” after drinking water from a well by using a cup which was not Haram ? She has no human rights as she is a Christian in Pakistan. Where are the true liberals ?

    That is what the battle is about, not sending foreigners “home”, that is not possible. Neither is it about funding the already broke NHS, nor putative pensions reductions or whatever. Surely people made plan B and plan C for the future years ago already ? Yes, of course these points are important, but to me, the cardinal importance is the threat to the future for the (grown-up) small children and grandchildren and those unborn in the UK a few years hence, when it will be impossible to change weighty matters, short of armed insurrection.

    I recall the failure of the EU trying to widen its net to bring the Ukraine (never my idea of a European country) “into the EU fold”, led by a ban-the-bomber, who didn’t understand Putin is a clever and dangerous man, determined to get the best for his country. How did that then go Cathy ?
  16. To give up hope is dreadful. It was a good thing for Europe the Brits didn’t do that in the darkest days of Dunkirk, of the battle of Britain, but heeded the words of Churchill :

    “Never give in. Never. Never. Never. Never.”

    I looked up a couple of quotations :

    It always seems impossible until it's done (Mandela)

    You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day (Marian White Edelman)

    Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. (John Quincy Adams)

    You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. (Ghandi)

    To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground. (Steven Covey)

    Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall. (Oliver Goldsmith/Confucius/Ralph Waldo Emerson)

    A Ballade of Suicide

    The gallows in my garden, people say,

    Is new and neat and adequately tall;

    I tie the noose on in a knowing way

    As one that knots his necktie for a ball;

    But just as all the neighbours on the wall

    Are drawing a long breath to shout "Hurray!"

    The strangest whim has seized me... After all

    I think I will not hang myself to-day.

    To-morrow is the time I get my pay

    My uncle's sword is hanging in the hall

    I see a little cloud all pink and grey

    Perhaps the rector's mother will NOT call

    I fancy that I heard from Mr. Gall

    That mushrooms could be cooked another way

    I never read the works of Juvenal

    I think I will not hang myself to-day.

    The world will have another washing-day;

    The decadents decay; the pedants pall;

    And H.G. Wells has found that children play,

    And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall;

    Rationalists are growing rational

    And through thick woods one finds a stream astray,

    So secret that the very sky seems small

    I think I will not hang myself to-day.

    ENVOI

    Prince, I can hear the trumpet of Germinal,

    The tumbrils toiling up the terrible way;

    Even to-day your royal head may fall

    I think I will not hang myself to-day. (GKC)

  17. [quote user="Gardengirl "]Judith, our friends around here are exactly the opposite; first they find it difficult to believe that anything will change, and then say but it won't apply to us - much like Claude who we buy cheese from, who told all his customers around us that he would go to law to tell them we are really French!

    Friends and neighbours can't accept that we will leave the EU (I find it difficult to believe too!).[/quote]

    Yes indeed, there you go gardengirl. Again, we are all different, Thank Goodness.

    Me too – I find it difficult to believe the UK is regaining its independence. Rather like having passed a difficult exam brilliantly when I was dead-sure I had failed.

  18. Yes Judith, I know just what you mean. Many foreigners do not understand the (general) British way of life or British institutions, do they ?

    OTOH, the same applies to Brits about foreigners.

    If I remember correctly, it was Roy Jenkins’ bio which told a story about Churchill’s trip to France in 1940. WSC and the Cabinet flew to France with the Entente Cordiale offer. It was discussed over a full French dinner, during which, Churchill signalled to his people to leave the room. Out they all trooped.

    Certain Frenchmen were suspicious of this mass “British exit” (couldn't resist it) and surmised a “deal” was being planned (l’Albion perfide?). An English-speaking observer was dispatched to spy on the proceedings, but returned and revealed their departure to the adjoining courtyard was merely to satisfy a need of nature, not to concoct dire deeds.

    (I thought some mild humour would not be amiss ?)

  19. The person who subtitled "David Cameron, UK MP" was an ignorant buffoon lacking any sense of occasion or a malevolent person taking a cheap shot at all the UK in front of the world. I don’t find it funny.

    David Cameron is PM of the UK. At Thiepval, he represented the people of the UK very well and has always done a good job at this sort of thing.

    PS - difficult to post this morning.

  20. [quote user="andyh4"]YCCMB wrote

    Here's someone - an EU lover, granted, but then a few of us are accused of that - who bothered to fact-check...

    http://ilovetheeu.co.uk/trade/no-the-eu-does-not-fund-companies-to-move-jobs-out-of-the-uk/

    Yours,

    Little snowflake

    Unquote

    So there you have it Earnie, Chessie and others. No suggestion of racism, no questioning your intelligence, not even a mention of your ability to write without mistakes.

    Pure and simple you have been scammed - and it seems by a so called newspaper at that.

    The irony is of course, that having helped to persuade electors to vote for an exit, the situation that they reported which was not true because EU rules forbid grants being offered to entice business from one EU country to another, will after the exit become not only possible but indeed highly likely.

    I am sure Eastern Europe would enjoy some of the Nissan/Toyota/Honda cake.[/quote]

    Sorry for you Andy, but I was not scammed, why not read again what I said ?

    I wrote :Received this in an email & obviously have no idea of its bona fides; but interesting ...

    If this is true, or even just perceived so by the majority of voters, one can easily comprehend why Brexit actually happened.

    That is all operfectly true yer Honerr.

    Now I have checked with the source, but they cannot provide documentation. So none of those companies moved premises and no-one lost their job ? That's a great relief.

    The EU "system" of rewards does not rely on thick bundles of 500€ notes (AFAIAA), the 30,000+ lobbyists in BRU know plenty other ways of being "rewarded" for what they do for their employers, many of them used to work "across the street".

    (Written for Ernie by his friend Earnie BTW)

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