Off Topic Politics Thread

This seems to be the default of leavers when talking about remainers

 

Hi FLT I've been called racist 5 times in different posts on twitter just because I said I voted to leave . Even on here st. godders has called me bigoted and I've not even met him! So I can only go on personal experience

 

Question - can we protect our territorial waters in our existing EU relationship.as you suggest we have control of our borders. My understanding, albeit potentially flawed is that we have to accept EU trawler fleets in our waters and therefore we do not control our own borders, I may be wrong or course?

 

I was pulling your leg.

 

Our territorial waters are currently part of the EU, and fishing quotas are allocated by the Common Fisheries Policy, which may be imperfect but if we leave the EU we won’t have one at all. At the moment we are allowed about 30% of total fish stocks in UK waters, although the percentages of different species vary. As I say, people complain about the CFP but unless we patrol our waters with gunboats and sink foreign trawlers, it’s better than what will happen if we leave.

And our territorial waters aren’t the same as our land borders, obviously.

 

The fish don't respect borders. If EU nations start to compete with us and overfish it affects out stock even if they don't do it in UK waters.

 

i think you got the wrong end of the stick, the 1 in 18 stat is for every 1 family moved from Syria to say Canada, 18 families can be looked after fed and housed in Syria where most would prefer to remain, if you think a stat can be bigoted then you have a problem

 

It's when it's as clearly untrue as that one. The cost of living is nowhere near 18 times less and it shows how little you think of Syrians.

 

I don’t think a stat can be bigoted - it can be utter bollocks though; in which case you then have to question the motives of whoever plucked the numbers out of the air. That’s often where the bigotry comes in.

 

It's worth bearing in mind that one of the reasons we have trawlers from other EU nations in what were UK waters is that when quotas were dished out, many of the owners of UK quotas sold them (or leased them, more accurately) to foreign fleets.

Additionally, it's important to note that, despite the absurd rhetoric poured out over fishing, fishing contributes under half a percent of GDP.

And, as a consumer, do you care if the fish on your plate is caught be a French trawler? Do you care in the same way that you care if the car (or, definitely, parts of the car) you drive was built elsewhere in the EU? Or that the Brie you had after Christmas dinner came from France (but might have been made from English or German milk)? Or even that components in your PC come from Taiwan?

Why is fishing so commonly classed as particularly important regarding the EU? Genuine question. What is it that makes this such a talked-about point with respect to Brexit?

Vin

 

I suspect the obsession with fishing has something to do with Brittania having once ruled the waves. Anything to do with boats provokes a subconscious association with Drake, Nelson and Dunkirk; a powerful concoction for a right wing press wishing to whip sections of the populace into a jingoistic frenzy.

It’s rarely mentioned that the biggest negative impact on the UKs fishing fleets was the loss of access to cod in waters claimed and aggressively defended by Iceland. The arbitrators in that dispute were our dear friends and NATO allies the USA, who needed neutral Iceland’s permission to station nuclear subs in their waters. Consequently the USA told the UK to back off when the Icelandic Navy began harassing British fishing vessels.

 

it's all a load of pollocks! I hake all this codswallop!

 

This guy had an interesting take on life.

 

Great news! The neighbour you've known for forty years, the person you've worked with for thirty and the nurse who's treated you for twenty years: if they are from the EU they will need to apply for permission to live in the UK, the country they almost certainly call home.

What a triumph!

Vin

 

I honestly despair for the country I was born in. We are already the laughing stock of Europe, and I fear our relationship can only get worse.

 

At least one very good friend of mine, a Frenchwoman, is stubborn enough to say **** that, round me up and send me back then.

Except she can’t, because her life is here. And despite having been born in England and gone to English schools, her son has a French passport and will probably have to apply to remain in the country of his birth.

If this is what patriotism means, no wonder it’s been called the last refuge of the scoundrel.

 

It's worth comparing with this:

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What, the Leave campaign lied?

[Cue arrival of someone to tell us that Remain lied worse]

Vin

 

Good to see that Labour want to eliminate hospital car parking charges, WHEN they get elected.
Just three visits to the general, with my wife in December, has cost in the region of £15, and we have two more appointments already booked for January, one of which could exceed 5 hours.
The cost is even more galling when I read that as little as 15% of the money collected actually goes to the NHS.

 

The percentage varies from Trust to Trust, to be fair, but it’s a tax on sick people and those visiting the sick and should be abolished. And let’s not forget hospital staff have to pay too, I had £35 a month stopped from my salary for parking, without even a guaranteed parking space or a refund for holidays and time off sick.

 

Hospital parking is free in Wales...