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Passports


NormanH

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I could not believe my eyes and ears when I heard this item on the tv news.

I remember my old blue, hard-backed passport that wouldn't fit readily into an pocket or wallet and I can't say that I missed it when it was replaced.

How can anyone place so much importance on the COLOUR of their passport, for heaven's sake?  Me, I just care that I can stand in the fast-moving queue and be quickly waved through and not the one that snakes around the concourse with people being held up, scrutinised, questions asked of them and then some times being led away somewhere looking worried

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Ah, yes, Hoody, but even the hungry will need passports when they go on their annual Corbyn paid month abroad.

But, surely the new passports will only be issued when the old ones expire, so no extra cost really.

However, things have come to a find pass when a true Englishman needs travel documents to travel the world; in the old days, manners, bearing and accent were enough; now we seem to have sunk to the same level as Johnny Foreigner.
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Just more lies from the Brexiteers I am afraid Norman, as the article points out, Burgundy passports were never compulsory, but hey-ho it fitted in well with the £350 million a week for the NHS type bullsh!t being spouted by the likes of Gove and Johnson at the time. I really do think that the tory MP Andrew Rosindell should have gone to Specsavers if he thinks that the current EU passport is pink!

As myself and my wife renewed our passports this year we can at least pretend for another 10 years that we are European.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]Think how many people will be given work by that, Hoody. And with all the Poles returning there will be plenty of work for everyone so no need for food banks!![/quote]

Thanks for the laugh on a grey and cheerless afternoon, Wools[:D]

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Who gives a flying one what colour it is? Most sit in a drawer for 50 weeks of the year and the other two are spent in a cheap digital safe in the bottom of a hotel room wardrobe. I doubt if the guy at Luton checking you onto the easyjet to Malaga gives a chuff what colour the cover is.

Im glad that half-way through the transition period to severing links with Europe and bringing about the biggest geopolitical shakeup since God knows when, the important stuff like passport colour is decided....just all those tedious niggles like reciprocal healthcare, employment rights etc to decide now....they should be able to bash all that out in a morning and knock off for Pimms oclock.

"look at these wonderful BRITISH BLUE passports..."

"yeah, thats pretty. Does it give me the right to easily travel to, live and work in dozens of nearby countries?"

"No."

"What does it do, then?"

"uh...its BLUE. British Blue."

Cretins.

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[quote user="NormanH"]Is that why Farage was at the German embassy? [:D]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nigel-farage-applying-german-citizenship-8643832

by the way I suspect that is also Fake News but what is good for the goose is good for the gander:)))

[/quote]

Actually it might actually be True News.  He does have a (nobody sure whether ex or current) German wife and a French girlfriend/lodger.

Plus, he's keeping his 76k MEP pension...........I heard his answer when he was asked about it.

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Most people below 40 have never seen a blue passport to be nostalgic about, a lot of the older generation pleased to see its return will never travel overseas again anyway, and every UK traveller, regardless of age, will now be faced with increased hassle when going abroad, assuming post-Brexit they will still have the means to do so.

Yes, it's a real triumph.
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Yes, a complete load of rowlocks.

In my world, you’ll have one card which fulfills the following functions:

id & nationality (as in a passport)

healthcare entitlement

driving entitlement

insurance cover

payment

residential status (& most recent address)

inside leg measurement

anything else that I haven’t thought of

In fact, it won’t be a card, it’ll be data that’s imbedded on your bonce or forearm. In France, this would (sadly of course) put about 2m fonctionnaires out of work.

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Never mind 490m, why should it cost even 490k just to change the colour and edit a few bits of text?

As Wooly says though it's barely a flea bite in the scheme of things and very quickly and easily recouped by hike in the fee, something else puffed up 'proud' holders can cogitate on as they while away the long hours at immigration.

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The contract for designing and producing UK passports is up for renewal in 2019 and the value of said contract is around £490 millon and lasts for a period of 11 years (ish).

It wouldn't matter what the colour was, the cost would still be the same. This announcement is a just a load of rollocks and doesn't deserve the media hype it's getting, more relevant is how useful the actual passport is after Brexit, something of course no one will know for another year or so.
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Well done DraytonBoy - I was going to make a similar point.

All the 'bleating' from the celebs that were being interviewed about this did the usual virtue signalling of 'money should be spent on NHS' - and not one interviewer or presenter ever pointed out that this is not an additional cost - it's the cost of a continuing contract.    The UK Government, as a sovereign country, provides British passports for British citizens.   It just so happens that the contract will be running out with existing supplier, that the UK wants to add even more high tech security stuff - and as the UK will have left the eu - then on a simple, practical level the UK has the chance to provide passports in a colour other than the existing red.

There are NO additional costs, but to read some of the twitter/facebook posts from the z-list celebs was really funny;  when the true facts were pointed out only one had the decency to apologise and take down their wrong assumptions - none of the others did so.   

So who put out the 'fake news', and how was the bbc conned into backing fake news, with no interviewer with enough nous to realise that the story wasn't true ?   Odd that....!!!

Must admit I didn't realise the UK did not have to have used the burgundy thing;  anyone know why the UK went along with all the others ?

And just as a matter of interest - remembering my mother's lovely green Irish passport with the Harp on the front - are Ireland's eu passports burgundy as well ?

Chessie

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From the article:

Most of the recent changes to British passports have been driven by

the US rather than the EU. The US requires certain passport features for

participation in its visa-waiver programme, which allows citizens of

most developed countries to enter the US for business or recreation

trips of up to 90 days without a visa. The US demands compliance with

ICAO standards, but it also imposes more stringent photo requirements

and biometric features.

The new US requirements have been imposed on the UK via the EU: the

US informed the EU of its demands, and the EU then incorporated them

into its own passport standards
. But the UK would only be able to escape

these requirements after Brexit by giving up visa-free travel to the

US.

So as with much of the Brexit story the EU was blamed for things it never imposed, and the USA is not blamed for the far more bothersome things it has imposed..

That is the real  story here in my opinion. Even chessie admits ' I didn't realise the UK did not have to have used the burgundy thing'

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Irish passports are burgundy but still have harp on the front. Lucky you Chessie..you'll be able to apply for an Irish passport if brexit goes Pete tong.

It was Maggie Thatcher's government that took the decision to change the passport to burgundy.

I find it strange that the UK has actually chosen EU blue for it's colour, with gold lettering. My old UK passport was black. What won't change is the size, as that is governed by international treaties. They need to fit in the standard sized passport readers.

PS..all passports will eventually carry more security info as the technology is updated. My new UK passport has more security features than the previous one. The EU doesn't stop that.
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[quote user="lindal1000"] I find it strange that the UK has actually chosen EU blue for it's colour, with gold lettering. My old UK passport was black. [/quote]

 

Are you perhaps colour blind or is your memory playing tricks. I have all my UK passports since the age of 16 and they were dark blue with gold lettering not black, The French would call it bleue marine, why do you think it is EU blue?

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