Turns out your apportionment of some of the blame on the EU is 100% wrong, according to Tata. The EU was trying to raise tariffs on Chinese steel, but Cameron/Osborne, in their toadying, servile attempt to tie the UK economy to a totalitarian dictatorship, blocked it. I think an apology is in order Goldie.
You're quick to seek an apology, Stan - the argument hasn't played out yet. I'm far from a supporter of Dave and Gideon, but the accusations of obstruction come, so far as I have read, not from Tata but from EU officials. And according to the FT, a spokesperson for the Dept of Business has said: “The UK has been at the forefront of pressing the EU to act against unfair dumping. This government has gone far further than previous governments in voting in favour of tariffs on steel dumping.” Let's wait for a formal response to the EU accusations
This bloke has some interesting insights into the US election candidates from a Republican perspective. I'd vote for him.
Excellent Andrew Marr programme on R4 this morning, including Yannis Varoufakis, a man I could listen to for hours but probably wouldn't want as my country's finance minister (or perhaps I would, thinking about it). He did make the very good point that if the UK wants 'sovereignty' from a Brexit, then it also has to leave the single market, which is not just about trade but about regulation. And the regulations will of course be set by the EU.
In 2014, the EU accounted for 44.6% of UK exports for goods and services. Imports to the UK from EU countries were 53.2%. In the event of Brexit, we would have to comply with EU regulations when selling to EU members, and EU members would have to comply with UK regulations when they sell to us. Talk from ex Greek finance ministers of "The UK having to leave the single market" is scaremongering imo. Of course, Greece (for whose people I have much sympathy over the Euro-shafting and the serious immigration crisis) want us to stay in and keep pumping money in
pleased they have given in to pressure to reveal the true figures of those that have moved to the UK from other EU countries
I'm not amazed at the number of people in the world who feel disenfranchised by their political system. I'm one of them, as some here will remember. What does amaze me is how many will use their frustration to take a swipe at the powers-that-be. Just because they can take that swipe - even though the outcome for them personally is not what they really want. It really isn't thinking things through. One example is the US Republicans who want Trump to be their candidate. It is crucifying that party and the result will be another Democrat president, which is the last thing most Trump supporters want. But then, if you want to get the vote of people who think like children, deliver policies that appeal them, I guess.
He wasn't arguing for us to stay in, he didn't have a position on it. He was pretty clear that if the circumstances had been slightly different he would have pursued a Grexit. He was just talking about sovereignty as a part of the discussion. And just for accuracy, the U.K. contribution to the Greek bailout has been negligible - £1bn of the initial £110bn. We spent a lot more on the Irish, because, according to Osborne 'it was in our interests'. Seems like John Nash was right all along, we only do stuff which we think will benefit ourselves, in his '**** you buddy' theory.
The Greek bailout was a Euro issue, and it was German industry that benefited while Greece was racking up the debts, so I think we were well out of that. Still hard to call how the Brexit vote will go - I thought a Remain looked on the cards, but latest (Express) poll shows 43% out, 39% in and 18% undecided. It won't help Dave's crusade to stay in and preserve his legacy, that Daddy Cameron was deep in with Mossack Fonseca, Panamanian companies, the owner of bearer shares and keeping money in secret accounts offshore, possibly in the Bahamas to avoid or evade UK taxes. There would seem to be a lot more revelations to come as a result of that data leak.
So, to continue on the topic I started earlier today (473)... Will a person who wants to stay in the EU actually vote against it because David Cameron wants to stay in, but this person is angry that Cameron's relatives have been shown to be legal tax avoiders with questionable ethics? Will a person who wants to leave the EU actually vote to stay in because they think Boris Johnson wants us to leave, but needs to be shown that he can't take the public for granted any more - and wants to give him a bloody nose? In both cases, the reason and the result aren't connected. Oh dear....
Perhaps you underestimate the public's cynicism in political leadership at the moment, even though you yourself make reference to it in an earlier post. If Cameron is standing up at the dispatch box, claiming that he will cleanse dirty politics and remove tax avoidance and evasion by turning the screws on tax havens and banning bearer shares, and then it is discovered that his own father was secretly up to exactly the things that son Dave claims to abhor...(which incidentally has made Dave a very wealthy man, and who knows what sums he has offshore - no jokes about Lanzarote) how receptive are voters likely to be to all the scares he's putting out about Brexit causing the NHS to go bust, prison camps all over the south of England, electricity and gas prices going through the roof, future generations left destitute etc? As for Boris Johnson - for reasons that are entirely beyond me, the public trust him, and his endorsement of Brexit is worth many, many votes, even if he has been shown to have been banging Petronella Wyatt during late nights at the office.
Yep, the '**** you buddy' rules apply re Greece. Cameron's Dad won't make any difference, bet it amazingly turns out to be legal to make millions from adding no value to the world as an expensive middleman and hiding the proceeds. Hope that crook 'Lord' Ascroft gets shown up for the **** he is though. Obviously these are all very public church going patriots who just don't like paying tax, and would prefer to mingle with criminals and corrupt politicos to uphold this privilege, as is their right. I am stunningly unsurprised by these revelations. I am also beginning to think a low turnout and Brexit win is quite possible for the referendum. Well, you just have to hope that rather more people vote according to what they think rather than who they like. But I wouldn't bank on it. As you say, there has to be an explanation for Trump somewhere.
Show me a country that doesn't apply "**** you buddy" rules Cameron's Dad's offshore exploits, if established and even if legal, will affect some voters - it chips away at credibility anyway. On a tight Brexit vote, it's what Remain doesn't want. PS Next week's story - Dave's mum was a mule for the Medellin drug cartel
Countries don't make decisions, they are figment of our collective imagination, people do. I just don't think the public memory is long enough for the Panama stuff to resonate in late June, unless it can be shown to be illegal when Cameron Snr did it and that Cameron Jnr benefitted from it, especially if he knowingly benefitted. That's probably resignation time. I doubt Johnson and Farage will make much of it, hard to believe that neither of them haven't ever had their hands in the till.
I definitely do not underestimate the public's cynicism, and I'm certainly among them. That's my point. We're going to have people voting against what they actually want to happen (using Cameron as an example, but it applies to both sides) for reasons that don't make sense. So, some people, as you yourself wrote earlier... ... are going to vote against staying in the EU (even though they wanted to stay in) just because of these revelations about Camerons dad - even though one thing has nothing to do with the other. And others will probably vote to stay in the EU (even though they want to leave) just because they can't stand Johnson and think he's a shameless opportunist. For them, it stops being a vote about the issues and becomes a personal vote about the people - even though that isn't what the vote is about. It's not a vote of confidence in the politicians, it's a vote to stay in the EU or leave it. I can just see people making their marks on the voting slips, thinking "There! That'll teach 'em!". Except it won't, and they might not get the result they actually wanted.
Just cos I ain't never said, no, nothing worth saying Never ever, never ever, never ever Things 'ave got read into what I never sad, 'till me mouth becomes me 'ead Which ain't not all that clever And it's not not saying one thing nor another Neither, either is ist anything I haven't said, whatever And it ain't not proving that me mind ain't moving Fanx Ian
