Current Affairs EU In or Out

[Disgruntledgoat]

Not at all, if people wish to have an EU connection and the EU are happy for them to do so, then fine. And if the Eu decide they can tax you (like the USA does) or if they decide to call you up for National Service then I’m sure you will be happy with that.....

Here's a good 'un for you Pete. I'm looking at booking our band for few shows early next year in the UK and other countries across Europe. Except we won't be going to the UK... becuse we're Belgian (3 born and my dual citizenship) we have to pay about a grand for a visa to play 2 shows that will make us less than that total. That's the kind of connection you want to keep, hey?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

It’s a weird one that I’ve heard a few times. Being conscripted into the EU army lol

I think I saw in the 'last movie you watched' thread that Pete had watched Starship Troopers over the weekend.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Here's a good 'un for you Pete. I'm looking at booking our band for few shows early next year in the UK and other countries across Europe. Except we won't be going to the UK... becuse we're Belgian (3 born and my dual citizenship) we have to pay about a grand for a visa to play 2 shows that will make us less than that total. That's the kind of connection you want to keep, hey?

About 25% of my income this year has come from the EU itself, so it'd be nice of Johnson didn't make Brits complete persona non grata across the continent. Indeed, just concluded my only bit of work for a British client all year, and yet it's apparently remainers that aren't making Brexit a success.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Surprised nobody has mentioned yet another brexiteer idol's loyalty to the UK...

Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos mulls making Land Rover rival in France
The billionaire tycoon is in talks to buy a French car plant to build his new Grenadier off-roader, scuppering UK jobs hopes

Was going to be built in Wales somewhere wasn't it?

 

[dead_soft]

Not at all, if people wish to have an EU connection and the EU are happy for them to do so, then fine. And if the Eu decide they can tax you (like the USA does) or if they decide to call you up for National Service then I’m sure you will be happy with that.....

Pete, I doubt most people would be happy to be called up for National Service by Britain so why should they be happy to be called up to join the EU national service that doesn't even exist?

 

[peteblue]

Here's a good 'un for you Pete. I'm looking at booking our band for few shows early next year in the UK and other countries across Europe. Except we won't be going to the UK... becuse we're Belgian (3 born and my dual citizenship) we have to pay about a grand for a visa to play 2 shows that will make us less than that total. That's the kind of connection you want to keep, hey?

That is a good one, and to be quite honest is one that the EU and U.K. should address with a bilateral agreement regarding visa’s. In this day and age, visa’s between EU, USA, UK, Canada, and others are a waste of time and money, but I’m sure the bureaucrats will demand them anyway.....

 

[peteblue]

I think I saw in the 'last movie you watched' thread that Pete had watched Starship Troopers over the weekend.

Erm.....

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That is a good one, and to be quite honest is one that the EU and U.K. should address with a bilateral agreement regarding visa’s. In this day and age, visa’s between EU, USA, UK, Canada, and others are a waste of time and money, but I’m sure the bureaucrats will demand them anyway.....

But you did kinda vote for something whose central remit was to end the ability to do that without a visa. I accept that migration may not have been the central issue for you personally, but it was for many, hence the vulgar trumpeting of the 'ending of free movement' by Patel recently.

 

[peteblue]

Was going to be built in Wales somewhere wasn't it?

Supposedly. However in other news......

”Royal Dutch Shell has hinted that it may move its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK as it tries to simplify its complex capital structure.

Ben van Beurden, the oil company’s chief executive, pointedly declined to rule out the plan in an interview at the weekend.

A move to the UK would be a second vote of confidence in as many months after Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, revealed last month that it would merge its British and Dutch holding companies into one based in London”

 

[peteblue]

But you did kinda vote for something whose central remit was to end the ability to do that without a visa. I accept that migration may not have been the central issue for you personally, but it was for many, hence the vulgar trumpeting of the 'ending of free movement' by Patel recently.

But we don’t really need Political, Monetary and Legal harmonisation to arrange a mutually beneficial agreement on visa’s......

 

[Bruce Wayne]

But we don’t really need Political, Monetary and Legal harmonisation to arrange a mutually beneficial agreement on visa’s......

We never had any of those things other than in areas where it made sense to do so. I mean if travel ever does return, I would imagine having a data sharing arrangement in place between healthcare providers across Europe would be highly beneficial, but that doesn't make it political or legal harmonisation, it just makes it common sense. Whether we like it or not, British firms will abide by GDPR, and GDPR will drive data governance here, simply because to do otherwise would be silly. Heaven knows, if this crisis has shown anything, it's that the most important thing is to get the best outcomes for people, not to have a 'British' outcome for people. Who really cares?

 

[spectateur]

Not at all, if people wish to have an EU connection and the EU are happy for them to do so, then fine. And if the Eu decide they can tax you (like the USA does) or if they decide to call you up for National Service then I’m sure you will be happy with that.....

But matters of taxation and military service lie in the hands of individual nations. The EU cannot perform the functions you are suggesting.

 

[orchard]

Was going to be built in Wales somewhere wasn't it?

Yeah, but he's 'moved' to Monaco after voting for Brexit. Still, sounds like the government would still be happy to slap a 'made in the uk' sticker on it for a donation.

 

[peteblue]

We never had any of those things other than in areas where it made sense to do so. I mean if travel ever does return, I would imagine having a data sharing arrangement in place between healthcare providers across Europe would be highly beneficial, but that doesn't make it political or legal harmonisation, it just makes it common sense. Whether we like it or not, British firms will abide by GDPR, and GDPR will drive data governance here, simply because to do otherwise would be silly. Heaven knows, if this crisis has shown anything, it's that the most important thing is to get the best outcomes for people, not to have a 'British' outcome for people. Who really cares?

I agree. We are already completely ‘harmonised‘ with the EU anyway and while we may set a different course in the future I would expect standards etc to remain at similar levels. It‘s only the Politicians who are trying to make this difficult when it doesn’t need to be (Galileo being a good example).....

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I agree. We are already completely ‘harmonised‘ with the EU anyway and while we may set a different course in the future I would expect standards etc to remain at similar levels. It‘s only the Politicians who are trying to make this difficult when it doesn’t need to be (Galileo being a good example).....

But we have no say in the creation of those rules now. I suspect the view that Britain was largely impotent in Brussels was always silly victimhood by arch Brexiters, as many have highlighted the influence we had on European thinking and decision making, but even taking the most impotent image, we still had the power to veto policies we didn't approve of. Now, we have none of that power, yet due to the political and commercial heft of our near neighbours, we are, as you say, highly likely to follow their rules anyway.

Galileo is indeed a good example, as we're not planning to do a different satellite network, but simply our own satellite network, and because of the paucity of domestic suppliers, the government have been forced to pump huge sums into a company that were going bankrupt. It smacks of desperation and is an absolute mile from the 'no lame duck' approach Thatcher espoused. We've already seen the government buy ferries from a non-ferry company, and PPE from a pest control company. They look like well spoken chancers who haven't got a clue what they're doing.