Rather unfortunate choice of words from this MP! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40555639 Maybe it's just getting too heated!
Nothing new for the Tories - John Major used the same turn of phrase in 1993. I suspect the outcome today will be the same as then - nothing.
According to the Financial Times, the UK are heading for 'national humiliation' whatever the outcome.
Couldn't have put it better myself. However humiliation 3 is an outcome that 48% of the nation would settle for NOW!
Solution 3 is possible and would involve no humiliation and no gloating on this side of the channel (meaning where I am) - rather relief on all sides, and being able to get back to the more important themes of environmental protection and of ensuring that the people get a chance of framing the Europe which we want to live in. It is very dangerous for the British to believe that they cannot go back without losing face, and, as a result, go down a road which nobody wants. I would see all of this as having been worthwhile if, as a result, we never see the Tories close to power again in my lifetime.
As someone who also lives on this side of the channel I have to agree that it would be more a sense of relief, rather than a chance to gloat if the UK realized that it was driving up a road to nowhere and found a way out of the whole exercise. Today David Davis was quizzed by a select committee, and once again could not give a single straightforward answer to the questions. He now admits that it will not be possible to leave in March 2019, but is trying to say that is because the EU will not be ready for the change, and nothing to do with the UK having no infrastructure in place to deal with it. Total rubbish. He is already attempting to prepare people for something he knows will not work. There is a problem however with calling the whole sorry state of affairs off, and that is the leader of the Labour party who is only trying to be all things to all men. He is only playing politics with it, trying to appeal to the young who generally do not wish to leave the EU, and his older core voters from the north of England who want to leave. Both parties are equally responsible today for leading the country to the brink, but without a wholesale clearance of these "leaders" the country will just struggle on and fall off the cliff.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...o-stay-five-days-michel-barnier-a7836911.html Oh dear - answers within five days please says the EU. Who's whistling now Boris?
You can tell that the government has got it wrong when Bill Cash doesn't agree with them over Euratom.
We've had a French market not far from me for the next couple of days. We regularly get French or Normandy markets here, usually about 4 or 5 times a year. There was concern that Brexit would prevent these, and we're not even in the EU.
Worth a consideration if you value (what so-called) democracy ( we have) https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/c...bucket=facebook-advert-14_7_2017_dp_hog_democ
It doesn't look as if David Davis has got to grips with the situation if this is true. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...el-barnier-brussels-david-davis-a7847641.html
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...-career-psychopath-david-davis-thick-as-mince Not surprising - "thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus" as described by Dominic Cummings - former adviser to, and friend of, Michael Gove. Mind you, what is a surprise is to find that Michael Gove has a friend...
http://www.politico.eu/newsletter/b...r-waste-option-lamb-and-strawberry-diplomacy/ Am gobsmacked that Davis is idiotic enough to object to this... "the EU proposes British expats in Europe will only be allowed to seek residence rights in the country they live in — not throughout the EU — so stripping them of the freedom of movement rights they currently enjoy." Does he seriously believe that Freedom of Movement has to stop for everyone except the British?
I am not sure if he objects to it or not. What is to the point though is that rights given to everyone within the EU are to be taken away by the actions of Westminster. At present my son-in-law works mainly in one EU country, has residence in another, and holds a UK passport. He also works in other countries within the EU, including the UK, and travelling freely is essential. His office was in England, but that was closed down after the Brexit vote. Any work that he has in the UK is handled from Brussels now. The taxes that he and the company paid in the UK are now paid to Belgium after the American owners have taken their cut. Every piece of business in the high tech field is universal now, and to try and create borders rather than take them away is a step into the past.
I think that the concept of freedom of movement is misleading - we have that with or without the EU. I do not need a visa to travel to Turkey, and they are not in the EU. I simply have my passport stamped on entry and cannot take up official residence there, or take a job there for more than 3 months (not that I would really want to). The freedom of movement which is being referred to is being able to change my residence at will, have full access to both the job market and social benefits, and have voting rights (at local and European levels) in another EU. country. Although I consider the whole idea of Brexit to be lunacy, we cannot completely ignore the arguments which are critical of unrestricted movement. This same 'freedom of movement' allows Britons, and Germans, to buy up properties for ridiculous prices in places like Rumania and Bulgaria - thus forcing prices up to a level which forces locals away. Unrestricted movement also empties some regions of the very people (the young, the enterprising etc.) who would be necessary to fuel real economic growth there. Who is going to invest in Rumania if all of their young have gone to Italy or Spain ? We need to be thinking of incentives for people to stay in some parts of Europe - maybe a 'solidarity tax' as was used in the former East Germany, because nobody invests in countries or regions which are depopulating. Before Ireland was able to think about economic growth it had to firstly stem the flow of emigration and secondly provide incentives for returning Irish migrants - some Eastern European countries need to be doing the same. As long as people in Rumania, Poland and Bulgaria think that the streets of Hamburg, Paris or Copenhagen are paved with gold, and as long as the lowest rate of social security benefits in the Netherlands is more than a policeman earns in Bulgaria then there will be problems with 'freedom of movement' - real demographic ones. As you know - I am against Brexit - but it may, just, open the door to some realistic debate on the issue of unrestricted freedom of movement, which may be a good thing.
