So, irony is not yet dead.
Or did you mean it?
I was echoing the view of much of the establishment that Brexit voters were thick racists who don't understand economics.
Of course I don't agree with them
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I was echoing the view of much of the establishment that Brexit voters were thick racists who don't understand economics.
Of course I don't agree with them
1966efc
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Seen that film not made in the EU , but our new trading partners the good old USA
Fair enough. My original comment a few pages back was in response to someone drawing a comparison between Brexit and Trump. My comments were never meant to generalize about a specific group of voters, more the similarities between the winning campaigns.
noted. My comment about insults being thrown relates to those of both sides.
I suspect the trump victory my be due to his opponent as much as his policies; the mercans really had a tough choice.
1966efc
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Much simpler if the rest of us accept that government should be operated by a select few.
Let's call them the Alpha group. Alphas could help to educate the rest and perhaps get the Betas - trained a little more than the rest - to train the rest to a lower level.
But what if there were to be a mix up at birth? Simple! Separate nurseries, clearly labelled, with particularly attentive nurses devoted to the alpha babies.
Alphas will, of course, govern in the best interests of all. Occasionally, figures and 'facts' will have to be suppressed or altered a little, lest the others get a bit twitchy or disappointed with the government. And increased surveillance will be necessary - for your safety and comfort.
Democracy is messy, often uncomfortable and very often baffling. I prefer it, however, to Smugocracy.
Let's call them the Alpha group. Alphas could help to educate the rest and perhaps get the Betas - trained a little more than the rest - to train the rest to a lower level.
But what if there were to be a mix up at birth? Simple! Separate nurseries, clearly labelled, with particularly attentive nurses devoted to the alpha babies.
Alphas will, of course, govern in the best interests of all. Occasionally, figures and 'facts' will have to be suppressed or altered a little, lest the others get a bit twitchy or disappointed with the government. And increased surveillance will be necessary - for your safety and comfort.
Democracy is messy, often uncomfortable and very often baffling. I prefer it, however, to Smugocracy.
Look please do not try this at home if you are a Remainer - there is hope outside the EU !
hope, and maybe just the eensy-teeniest hint of risk?
No need to blow your brains out in a game of Russian roulette you could always try the depression thread?
hello
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The extent of the "right wing media" in this country is people accessing Breitbart from overseas and tabliod tosh from the Mail. Hardly a point there when the vast majority of papers peddle the left. Not to mention our national news channel. To suggest that the portion of right wing media had a greater influence than the unarguably dominant left is just absurd.
Now what you can say is that through collective reporting of events, people's opinions were swayed in favour of Brexit. Reporting from all news sources. 'Project Fear' as it was so aptly deemed convinced many voters that the risk was not worth any potential reward, but it managed to convince more voters that the referendum was a time to rebel against the elites and the media. They have been dictating events for years and the constant belittling of the public, the "you're racist if you vote leave no exceptions", the "you don't understand economics if you vote leave" was the straw that broke the camel's back for the majority in the country.
Regardless, both sides were willing to say whatever they could in order to achieve the result they wanted. It just so happened that for the remain campaign, that became detrimental to their efforts in the end.
(Irrespective of whether you voted to leave or remain, the idea that leaving wouldn't result in sovereignty is astonishing. The point to make there is whether that sovereignty is a good thing in the modern economic climate.)
A couple of articles below are pertinent to this. The first is from the Daily Mail in April, the second from the Times in October.
Britain led efforts to block EU tariffs that might have protected the steel industry in this country from a flood of cheap Chinese imports, it emerged yesterday.
George Osborne and David Cameron were accused last night of being more concerned with courting China than the fate of Tata steelworkers.
The claims came as Mr Cameron warned yesterday there was ‘no guarantee’ he could save thousands of steel jobs.
Ministers opposed EU proposals earlier this year to put a 66 per cent tariff on cheap steel products, saying it would lead to higher prices for UK consumers.
Instead, the tariffs stayed at 9 per cent. Officials are now going back to Brussels to increase the tariffs which the EU did agree upon from 9 to 20 per cent.
Axel Eggert, director general of the European Steel Association, which represents the industry across the continent, told the Financial Times: ‘The UK is the ringleader in a blocking minority of member states that is preventing a European Commission proposal on the modernisation of Europe’s trade defence instruments.
‘When the UK Government says it is willing to do whatever it takes, it must take seriously the need to push through – along with other member states – the reforms to European trade policy that could actually defend the industry from unfair dumping and prevent the job losses.’
A French diplomat added: ‘In reality, the UK has been opposing an overhaul of the EU’s anti-dumping system.’ In February, Business Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs that punitive tariffs ‘simply do not work’ and would ‘drive up prices’.
Mr Osborne has been instrumental in persuading China to fund the UK’s first nuclear power station for a generation at Hinkley Point. Chinese president Xi Jinping was in Britain last October on a state visit during which he signed the nuclear deal. The Chancellor and other senior ministers have made a number of trips to Beijing.
Critics say Mr Osborne’s eagerness to do a deal with the Chinese had been so all-consuming that the Government is content to see the fall of the steel industry.
Up to 40,000 jobs are at risk following the shock decision by Indian conglomerate Tata to sell its UK assets, including the giant steelworks at Port Talbot in South Wales. On another day of chaos:
■ Mr Cameron held a crisis meeting in Downing Street, but warned there were ‘no guarantees’ that the Port Talbot plant could be saved;
■ He was accused of using the steel crisis to scaremonger over Brexit by claiming the EU would impose punitive steel tariffs on the UK;
■ Channel 4 News reported that Tata had taken on accountants PwC to draw up a restructuring plan which could be a prelude to going into administration.
Mr Osborne, who was in Paris yesterday for a meeting of G20 finance ministers, insisted the Government was ‘on the side of the families affected by this crisis’ and was doing ‘everything possible and practical’ to support the industry.
But Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP whose constituency includes the threatened Port Talbot plant, told BBC Breakfast the Government’s actions told a different story.
‘Not just over the last few weeks and days, but over the last five years, the Government has been asleep at the wheel and has been more interested in rolling out the red carpet for China, than it has been in standing up for British steelworkers,’ he said.
He wrote in the Guardian that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are ‘Beijing’s chief cheerleaders in Europe’.
May opposes higher tariffs against China steel dumping
Marcus Leroux | Bruno Waterfield
October 20 2016, 12:01am, The Times
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Theresa May is opposing tougher European protection against Chinese steel imports, dashing hopes in Brussels of a shift in position.
Britain has been the largest nation in a blocking minority of European Union members that prevented higher tariffs being put in place to combat “dumping” by Chinese producers.
Officials had been encouraged by a change in tone from the UK last month at a meeting of trade ministers in Bratislava, but the Department for International Trade said yesterday that it would oppose the removal of a key restraint on the EU’s trade defences.
However, Britain may find itself more isolated in opposing the trade policy. One official calculated that Britain was no longer part of a minority big enough to prevent the European Council from adopting the measures when it meets today and tomorrow.
The British steel industry has lost 5,000 jobs in the past year after prices collapsed because of global oversupply. European producers say that China is selling its steel below cost.
I did not see an IQ test on my ballot paper just IN or OUT
And the OUT won!
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