Another very cold night to be sitting on a bench watching football. I wonder if Vydra wishes he hadn't listened to that agent of his.
I take it that you are not a pro footballer wishing to play every minute of every game. Or maybe you are right, he is just like us. Don't think he will be improving his value in Mr. Pozzo's eyes though.
Morning all from a chilly West West London - exactly 0C when I left Bandit Country and some ice scraping required. Looking forward to a nice steaming frothy AK....
Sæl öll. Cappuccino, coffee, tea donuts and fruit are on the bar. Frothy cappuccinos for for al, HH, and W_Y Coffee and cramel frapachino for IB Coffees for COYH, Frenchie, Kev rob theo and vic-rijrode and kiwiqpr Strong coffee for Sandy Milky coffee for Yorkie Espresso for SuffolkHorn Strong black coffees for Bragi Norway and zen Black coffee half hot half cold and no sugar for Charlie A peppermint latte for DanH Tea for BHD Cornish Mark jsybarry Lloydinio NZ and BCFCRed Tea with skimmed milk and no sugar for GG and Leon Hot chocolate with marshmallows for BBW Caramel latte for Hornette Scullion Canary Dave Fossefilberto and Maestro Una paloma for Mexican Hornet http://grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Support-For-Joining-EU-Increases this is like turkeys voting for Christmas. We are in a good position so far away from the EU. Our economy is recovering from the mess of Landsbanki and to join the EU will ruin the country.
I am really surprised AK - with the economy recovering and the horror show with the Euro i would have thought Icelanders would have been even more anti than before. Do you know what the reason for the increased enthusiasm is?
The reason to join is that being a member would protect us from the worst bits of financial bad management as we would have europe money behind us and access to capital. The bad points are the EU nations would have access to our money to give to UK or Netherlands, because of Landsbanki and the idea of compensating the greedy government offices who invested in the banks mad schemes, and the EU to help the nations of the south. Also the fishing industry here would suffer as boats from Portugal Spain and anywhere else would be free to come and take the fish. 320000 Ãsland mouths is one level but 74000000 for all of europe would eat those fish very quicly. The Ãsalnd banks are giving money back but UK and Netherlands want it all now. Ãsland cannot afford to do this type of payment and why should I give councils in UK or Netherlands GBP12,000. This number is from dividing what is claimed by Gordon Brown by everyone in Ãsland. The councils would have done no worse than putting money on horse races, and you do not get compensation if you lose there.
Totally agree on the UK / NL point - it's amsuing how business men criticise those who bet on horses but take even bigger risks in money markets. On one of the other issues you raise, it's a moot point as I donlt think you'll join but the fishing industry would not suffer. I know for a fact that the EU was not going to get access to Icelandic waters.
I want to believe this but the EU is a bully and will arrange to take what they want. The Gæslan fought three landhelgisstriðin to keep British fishermen out of water around Ãsland and more recently against the norwegians and EU. 70% of the nations wealth is from fishing and we will not give it away. One thing worries me is the Norwegians and Chinese are drilling for oil of our north east coast, after our government signed a free trade agreement with China. Nothing is free with them China never does anything that will help anyone except them. The Chinese have forgotten their hate of Norway for giving Liu Xiaobo the Nobl Peace Prize because there is money involved.
I had a very scary recent conversation with a chinese graduate degree student. She had been studying foreign affairs for 3 years at an English university. We got talking about chinese involvement in Africa, and she said that some africans were not doing what the chinese wanted and therefore they needed to be punished!. If that is the thought process of future chinese foreign relations then I am worried.
It seems that in the Ukraine people are protesting because their government has stopped a trade treaty that was due to be signed with the EU following heavy pressure from Russia. The Russians want Ukraine to join up with their trade group, but the people would prefer to associate with the West. It seems clear to me that in this world of global trade no country can be an island if it is to survive financially, but governments need to explain far more openly what the advantages of agreements have for the people. Any grouping of countries make it difficult to find policies that suit everyone, one of the main problems with the EU, resulting in strange rules being produced, but you need to have an understanding why they have come about and governments generally don't explain things well, and far too many of the public are not interested
Cornish Mark, I think you'll find it's only the Han who are like this. Unfortunately there is rather a lot of them.
Cornish Mark, I have worked with people from our Chinese office and found them to be quite flexible in accomodating the company policies and procedures. Although I didn't talk politics with any of them, I can't imagine any of them would be as extreme as the person you spoke to if they work for an American company in China.
