Jako

I am a little confused with your question. E106=Working in the Netherlands, living in France. You'll not be able to obtain a Dutch  E106 if you are no longer employed in the Netherlands.

Fitch' warning on the UK credit rating again.Nothing new, but markets responded. UK Most at Risk of Losing Top Credit Rating I am actually surprised at sterling strength so far. I had expected the pound to be below parity by now.

There is a problem when trying to sell a French livebox Most liveboxes are not owned but rented. Somehow only the rented boxes get stolen and replaced by Orange. These stolen boxes are  then blocked  by Orange and will no longer function. Any potential buyer will be reluctant to pay decent  money for a box that might not work at all or stop later as the owner 'discovers' his livebox is missing.

[quote user="Sprogster"]Compared with which countries Jako? Clearly you are discounting countries like Ireland, Greece and Spain and ignoring unemployement figures, which in some EU countries are double that of the UK. The perception that the UK has a tiny industrial production is a fallacy not borne out by fact. [/quote] Real unemployment in the UK is at 15%, not much better than Spain. People who compare Eurozone figures to the UK are usually forgetting the devaluation of the pound. When German production is down 15%  and in the UK 'only' 10 % in one year you need to recalculate these figures to the same currency over the same period, hence add 20% to the UK figure because the pound dropped 20% in value to the Euro.So in real terms the 10% decline of the UK is double the 15% decline in Germany. Same for Ireland. The Irish economy has already stopped shrinking despite/thanks to the Euro. The UK economy is still shrinking, despite a weaker pound and massive QE. Don't take a very,very small economy like Greece into account. Although the UK economy is now smaller than Italy, it is still a major economy. [:)]  

[quote user="gardengirl "]I remember reading a number of times that several countries were in worse state than us; Italy, Spain, Greece come to mind. Does that mean that  they are all ticking over better now? Or maybe what I'm thinking of is things like umemployment levels etc.[/quote] People claiming that the UK is/was better of than xyz only look at one thing: Total debt of the UK government at the start of the downturn because that was the only good figure in the UK economy. (ca. 40% of GDP) They tend to forget that the UK has the worst structural deficit, the worst household debts, the worst banking system,  printing the most money ( as % of GDP), has the highest inflation ( and claim it as good )  , tiny industrial production, low tax income and relatively small export.

For this reason Orange provides a list of "installateur antennistes" near you on their website here: Liste des installateurs antennistes pour la TV d'Orange associant ADSL et satellite

This gave a big blow to the pound today: UK Economy Contracts for Record Six Straight Quarters Analysts had expected a 0.2 percent growth for the UK, not another contraction. Eurozone growth figure is also adjusted, but to the upside.[8-|]

Enjoy the blip while it lasts.[:)] King will be speaking tonight, BOE minutes tomorrow... [geek]

Íf the BoE would stick to its promise to keep inflation expectations "close to two percent" they should have raised rates last meeting as the inflation expectation for January is already at 3-3.5%. Instead, the BoE is expected to keep rates very low in 2010, thus inflating the debts away and pushing the pound lower in an obvious attempt to stimulate exports and stop imports. This will eventually revive the economy, but most Brits will exit the recession poorer as the value of sterling is diminished in the process.

Here's another nail: Pound Declines on Interest-Rate Outlook

Should the UK indeed decide to leave the EU this would be the least of your problems. Why would France allow you to continue to live here?. You'll be just another immigrant from outside the EU without visa and carte de sejour They might just decide to expel all Brits and confiscate their possessions.[:D]

This report had an immediate impact on the pound today: U.K. Factory Production Slumps to Lowest Since 1992

It is not (only) the newspapers, it is the incompetent politicians themselves that cause the eurofobic sentiment. With every unpopular European law they say "it is Brussels, don't blame us" What they don't tell you is that they ensorsed those laws. Europe only forces UK politicians to stick to their promises, that is all. And the man-in-the street is mislead to believe "Europe is to blame" All the EU benefits to the UK are simply not mentioned, not by the press and not by the politicians, as this is not a popular issue right now.

The problem is that virtually nobody has ever read this treaty and yet everybody is supposed to give a vote on the matter. The Dutch and the French said "no" for a lot of valid reasons, but not one of those reasons had anything to do with the treaty. If you need rely on the information given to you by others, then let those others decide for you.  That is what  governments are chosen for.  

[quote user="Keni "]Of course going back to the thread - I don't suppose the drop of the euro against the pound is anything to do with the present Irish Referendum? Or is it a coincidence that the pound loses against the euro when this malarky is being raised again in Ireland - surely someone somewhere should have realised that the Irish no meant no, rather than let's try it again next year? [/quote] The Irish did not mean "no", the general public in Ireland (and in the UK) simply don't understand what the Lisbon treaty really is.That is why a government is chosen to make this kind of decisions instead of the man-in-the-street. The outcome btw is irrelevant for the Euro, but not for Ireland..

True, but actually the UK decided 10 years ago to join the Euro. Since then, the UK government has made sure they don't qualify in order not to join. Why a referendum, just choose a government that wants to leave the EU or declare it will never ever join the Euro. Such a political party does not exist because it would be very damaging to the UK. For the biggest economy in the world ( =the Euro zone, not the US) whatever the UK decides or does is completely irrelevant. .  

Don't hope for a swift switch to the Euro. The UK simply does not qualify to be allowed in. The budget deficit must be below 3% ( from >12%!)  and inflation must be close to the Euro zone for several years. It will take many years for the UK to qualify again and then it will still take a few more years in which the UK economy has to prove it is stable enough. Poland will qualify sooner...

[quote user="Bilbo"][quote user="Jako"]The answer is simple. You own an 'ordinary' sky box with only  'ordinary' analogue output. ( scart-plug) .   The only way to change this is to buy a decent HD receiver with a digital HDMI output.[/quote] That is not correct. Sky boxes have both Scart and RF outputs. The Scart connector will give digital output while the other goes through  conversion to give analogue output for older TVs without a Scart connector. Digital output and HD output are not the same thing. The poster needs to connect his Sky box via the Scart connector rather than the RF one, as others have said. [/quote] Both RF and SCART  are ANALOGUE outputs!   The only digital connection is a HDMI connection and the only receivers with HDMI are HD receivers. Anyone thinking that SCART is a digital signal needs to be hospitalised.[:P]

The answer is simple. You own an 'ordinary' sky box with only  'ordinary' analogue output. ( scart-plug) .   The only way to change this is to buy a decent HD receiver with a digital HDMI output.

In mean worthless pound naturally. Your 50 Euro might equal 100 Pound and 100 Dollar by December.[:D]

Easy money, too bad it is worthless...[:P]

@NormanH, You are comparing last years prices on your bill without taxes to the prices on the internet which are "TTC"=including all taxes. Tax is not zero, apparently [:D]

There were a few other reasons as well: -King stating that the UK cannot afford a strong currency -King's wish to print even more extra money -Cameron stating that the UK might forfeit on its loans

The EDF published that the 'average' price rise this year is only 1.9% for consumers. Check the EDF website for the current prices and compare for the real rise: Tarif  tempo blue (300 days)  is up 20-25%! Tarif  heures pleines/heures creuses is up 4-9%! Tarif option base is up only 1.7%

"When a government is printing money to pay its debts that is in effect a default." So, by definition, the UK is now technically bankrupt.