Off Topic The Politics Thread

Rutte held on to power by donning the clothes of the far right and causing a diplomatic incident with Islamic Turkey. Meanwhile, the fascist Wilders has still got the second biggest party in the Netherlands, equivalent to the National Front being the second biggest party here.

 

It's good news but they did say that they would like us to have easy access to Europe.

 

Exactly Goldie. People hear a result and shout "yes that's a result for the EU" but in reality more people are turning away from the EU.

 

Everybody is fed up with the "sinking ship" but insufficient people in Europe are voting for the people advocating leaving it. As with Brexit, a win is a WIN IS A WIN. The margin of victory is not relevant. The Titanic was built in the UK, wasn't it?

 

Scotland (SNP) has wanted independence before Brexit was ever on the table. You seem to forget they had an independence referendum in 2014. You cannot blame Brexit. It's just a convenient excuse.
It won't happen anyway, just more project fear.

 

Yeah, a win is a win but look how many people have tried/trying to derail Brexit. That is my point.
The titanic was built in the UK Belfast if I remember but the iceberg that sank it was from Greenland.

 

Yes, it was built in Ireland.

 

No I'm not forgetting that. But Brexit has put it firmly back on the table when Scotland voted with a good majority to stay in.

 

Good hit - it's been bugging me who his look alike was

 

So did London!

 

Yeah - this is great news, but the CEO said:

"Continued tariff-and-barrier free market access between the UK and Europe that is predictable and uncomplicated will be vital for future success."

When I hear our supposed leaders saying things like "Everything will be fine" and "WTO rules will make us free": this cant add up for industries like this who import car parts then export cars.

Unless of course assurances have been given that the taxpayer will wear the cost

 

And why not? The taxpayer already subsidises businesses by allowing low wages for jobs and paying tax credits to the employees instead of getting the businesses to pay decent wages.

 

I've no issues with government interventions to help industry, could've done with more of them in the past 40 years.

I'd sooner we'd not leave the single market and have the need for these bribes in the first place.

 

Perhaps I was being too obtuse here. I'm OK about helping industry when it's needed, too. It's the tax credit system that (as I understand it) helps people accept low wages from their employer because their income gets topped up by the public purse. I can understand small businesses not being able to pay decent wages as they start up, and I'm OK about supporting that. I don't think the public purse should be enabling large corporations to pay low wages when they're established and doing well.

It's cheaper for the public purse to have people working and subsidised rather than on the dole, but it shouldn't be in the business planning of a major employer. Feels wrong, but I have no alternative proposal for it.

 

Minimum wage too start
People already doing the same job to earn more
Experience must count for something

 

A serious question guys..
Why is the the government so desperate to keep Scotland leaving the union.

 

The historical strength (military, political and at times, economic) derived from the Union through synergy - no Prime Minister wants to be the one to see its end during his/her watch

 

If by that you mean nobody wants to take that place in history you're obviously right. But the question is deeper I believe. Why do successive governments actually believe in the union and the answer to that, I suspect is a sense of British national identity because every politician who has held power in the last three hundred and ten years has grown up as a citizen of the union and therefore believes it should always be so. Scratch deep down into the family histories of most nationalists and the chances are that their forefathers were nationalists as well.

 

There are many economic, environmental, socio, technological reasons but fundamentally without either an United Kingdom of Britain and/ or a Union of European states, our peaceful co-existence is at much greater risk. History should have taught everyone that, but these days it seems they don't teach it in school anymore, or everyone is playing fantasy games in class.