err you can.. it tells you who spent what/where and how much.... And if the Germans use cash, how can you tell how much the do or don't spend? Your argument is flawed. This is actually really boring for a Sunday... don't you have something better to do? being that the EU is so great.
Albania is regarded as a serious candidate and has been recommended for accession. Turkey's down the line a bit. Don't be impatient!
The fact that Albania may be in line for possible membership in the future does not change the fact that the country is not, at present, in receipt of subsidization from Ireland or any other country in the EU, which is what was stated in the post I answered.
Sorry, I thought I remembered being told that Turkey would be joining any minute and that there'd be 80 million Turks on their way over here. I must have misunderstood.
You do love scoring own goals don't you - it is you that implied that the Germans (amongst other EU visitors) don't spend as much as others - whereas, by your own admission, we cannot ascertain how much they spend. I would agree that the average German visitor is not going to allow himself to be ripped off by the ridiculous prices in London, in the same way as the 'once in a lifetime' Japanese, or Chinese, guest - but this does not change the fact that the German is likely to visit more often. He/she also stimulates the economy at another level ie. the zone 2-3 guest house level - I agree that he is less likely to spend 200+ quid on an overpriced hotel in Mayfair.
Take a pedantic view if you like, but the fact is that Albania and North Macedonia are on the cusp of joining the EU and the Commission is doing all it can to push this through. That is the relevance for Ireland
I think some posters are getting desperate now. They all seem to come out of the woodwork and castigate over a small blip. Funnily they all seem to want to forget about the project fear crap that never happened?
I think I said that the French and Spanish are tight. no own goal... only in our own mind. I don't disagree with you regarding Germans visiting more but the facts show that the Americans and Chinese spend more money. Your project fear comments about London and visitors is wrong and like the other stuff you have previously posted it will come to nothing. don't worry yourself about London and visitors because it will be just fine.
Germany's Scholz urges agreement on global minimum tax now 1 Min Read FILE PHOTO: German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) speaks during an interview with Reuters in Berlin, Germany, February 19, 2020. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse RIYADH (Reuters) - World financial leaders should agree on a global minimum tax for companies now and politicians should not postpone an agreement for electoral reasons, Germany’s Finance Minister said on Saturday at an international tax conference in the Saudi capital. “We’re now in the year where we have to take decisions. There is enough work that had been done in the past, we have proposals from the OECD in January and we will have a meeting in Berlin of the OECD on the question in July. So there is enough preparation for coming to the end,” the minister, Olaf Scholz, added. “So I think minimum taxation (of companies) should be done now ... and nearly every country understands why there is a need for this,” Scholz said.
'Brussels is NOT my priority' Swedish PM's stunning attack on EU bosses' budget demands SWEDISH Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has launched a stinging rebuke against Brussels leaders after they demanded a 44 percent increase in annual contributions towards the EU. The Swedish Prime Minister has savaged the EU leadership over their “unacceptable” budget demands. Stefan Lofven insisted his priority was investing in his own country - not Brussels - amid growing divisions among the EU. Sweden is one of the so-called “frugal” member-states that have resisted calls to increase EU budget contributions. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Lofven said: “We don’t mind being net contributors - that is solidarity. “Countries with stronger economies need to pay for those who don’t have such strong economies. “But we can’t increase our fees. We need the budget to stay at one percent. We cannot accept such a dramatic increase. “The EU proposal was a 44 percent increase in our fees. That is not doable at all." He added: “We have to invest in our own country. We have a changing demographic and we need to spend money on our schools, our pension system. “That is my main focus, ensuring that the welfare in Sweden will still be good in the years to come. “We have a few interesting days ahead of us. "Now we have strong cooperation between the like-minded countries, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden working very close together making sure that the volume of the budget will stay at one percent, and also that we will have sustainable and good rebate mechanism. The EU has been struggling to come to a consensus this week after Brexit left a huge £62bn gap in the bloc’s seven-year budget. European Council chief Charles Michel failed to contain a revolt from Germany and the so-called “frugal four” - the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Austria - who have called for the budget to be capped at one percent of the bloc’s gross national income. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said the discussions will be the "hardest-ever negotiations in history" for the EU. Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said: “I’m willing to stay and I’m prepared to stay the whole weekend. But, no, I don’t think we are going to reach an agreement.” She said another summit would “probably” be needed. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte even brought along a biography of composer Frederic Chopin that he planned to read at the summit as he had "nothing to negotiate". He said: "I cannot sign up to this proposal. The proposal is simply not good."
IDS has said something similar that the untied 27 all have different priorities and the Germans and French are about to clash over budget priorities. Still they will be okay because "we are only a small country and won't be missed". Watch this space.
Boris Johnson ‘is planning to sell off Channel 4’ after boycotting the ‘left-wing’ broadcaster, senior Tory MPs claim PM has boycotted the channel since head of news said he was a 'proven liar' Senior MPs say he has privately confirmed the decision to sell the broadcaster He was replaced by an ice sculpture in its leaders debate in November By Luke Andrews For Mailonline Published: 20:03 AEDT, 23 February 2020 | Updated: 02:55 AEDT, 24 February 2020 2.5kshares 1.1k View comments Boris Johnson is planning to sell off Channel 4 after boycotting the 'left-wing' broadcaster, senior Tory MPs have claimed. The prime minister has refused to appear on the broadcaster since its head of news Dorothy Byrne said he was 'a proven liar' at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August. It has been alleged the channel could become more like Fox News following the sale, as Britain's broadcast media 'is so biased to the left'. please log in to view this image Shipley MP Philip Davies, who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: 'I've been arguing for years it should be sold off.' Channel 4's relationship with Downing Street has been in the deep freeze since the prime minister cancelled a planned interview with the broadcaster at the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, in August, following Ms Byrne's claims. Mr Johnson also cancelled a planned interview with the channel at the Tory party conference in October, and snubbed their political debate on climate change in November. The prime minister was replaced by an ice sculpture at the debate, which gradually melted throughout proceedings. Dorothy Byrne calls Boris Johnson 'known liar' at 2019 Edinburgh event please log in to view this image The Prime Minister was replaced by an ice sculpture at its climate debate in November after he refused to attend but sent Michael Gove in his place please log in to view this image Dorothy Byrne, head of news at Channel 4, at the Edinburgh TV Festival last year Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, had turned up to take Mr Johnson's place but was refused access by the broadcaster. Nigel Farage also refused to attend. Channel 4's editor, Ben de Pear, later took to Twitter to accuse the prime minister of behaving like Donald Trump. 'Put your leader Boris Johnson alongside the other leaders and stop playing games,' he tweeted. 'Don't refuse and then threaten our license it's a slippery slope.' They were also forced to cancel their general election debate, ahead of the election in December, after Boris Johnson refused to appear. The broadcaster has also had to apologise to Mr Johnson after it tweeted he said 'people of colour' on the campaign trail. The prime minister had actually said 'people of talent'. Conservative MPs have previously accused the channel of pursuing a political agenda. please log in to view this image The Prime Minister has also been warring with the BBC, and refusing to come onto its flagship Radio 4 programme Today. He has also raised questions about the licence fee BBC at risk of losing 'a generation of viewers' says Ofcom The channel, which is the home of popular TV programmes including the Great British Bake Off, saw its ratings slump last year as the number of its programmes in the top 100 watched dropped by a fifth. It had an average of 1.61 per cent of its programmes in the top 100 each week in 2018, which fell to just 1.27 per cent last year. The prime minister's decision to freeze out Channel 4 comes as he also puts pressure on the BBC, after accusing the publicly-owned broadcaster of left-wing bias. Mr Johnson has refused to appear on Radio 4's Today programme and Newsnight. He has also launched an attack on its licence fee, threatening to de-criminalise non-payment and turn the British national broadcaster into a Netflix subscription service. A Number ten source was also quoted by The Times this month saying the BBC could be forced to dump most of its radio stations in a massive 'pruning back' of its journalism. MailOnline has contacted Channel 4 for comment.
is it true that you cant tow an electric car sounds like they should be banned from the roads cant have cars coming to a sudden halt on the motorway with a 30 tonne truck up its arse Electric car problems on smart motorways – government official ‘absolutely astonished’ Posted: February 23, 2020 by oldbrew in government, Politics, Travel Tags: electricity 6 please log in to view this image M42 ‘smart’ motorway [image credit: Snowmanradio @ Wikipedia] Hansard (the Official Report) is the edited verbatim report of proceedings of both the House of Commons and (in this instance) the House of Lords. These extracts from a very recent debate highlight serious EV safety issues which seem to have been ignored to date: Lord Snape: My Lords, like previous speakers I thank the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, for introducing this debate. It is apparent that smart motorways have few friends—other than perhaps in the Department for Transport. Those of us who have used them are aware of the dangers and see from time to time the awesome consequences of all four lanes of traffic being in use at exactly the same time. Baroness Randerson: Finally, I raise the issue of electric vehicles. When an electric vehicle ceases to function, it stops; it does not coast in the way that other vehicles do. Smart motorways are supposed to be the future, but the future is electric. Those vehicles stop very suddenly. They also cannot be towed; they have to be put on a low-loader, which is a much more complex and longer process that will put rescue teams in greater danger. So can we have special consideration for how these new motorway layouts will operate when there are lots of electric vehicles on the road? Baroness de Vere (a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Transport): I note the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, about electric vehicles. When I first heard this, I was absolutely astonished. Quite frankly, this is applicable not just to smart motorways but to every single road. We will need to be able to move electric vehicles, wherever they happen to stop or end their days. I assure her that I will now look into it with great gusto, provided I keep my job. Work is under way to look at short-term measures to make sure we can get electric vehicles off to places of safety as quickly as possible, on whichever road, because that certainly would be a large drawback to the introduction of electric vehicles.
School leavers train as carers as EU migration falls By Callum May BBC News 21 February 2020 please log in to view this image Image caption Roisin Brown, 24, recently started working as a care assistant at Birmingham's biggest hospital The NHS in England is hiring 10,000 school leavers given training by the Prince's Trust charity. The new staff will go some way towards solving the shortage caused by rising demands on the service and falling EU migration. The trust's research suggests there is concern among public-sector employers that jobs are becoming harder to fill. The new staff will work in non-clinical jobs although some may train as nurses or doctors eventually. "There are lots of young people who struggle to access the kinds of careers and opportunities that we offer and the opportunity of this partnership is to reach out to those young people," NHS Employers chief executive Danny Mortimer told BBC News. In Birmingham, where the NHS is the city's biggest employer, training of the new staff is well under way, with some already in post. Nursing ambitions Roisin Brown, 24, has a new job as a health-care assistant on a cancer ward at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham's biggest. She was referred to the Prince's Trust after struggling to find work once she had re-taken her English GCSE at a further education college. She said: "If you want to go into nursing but don't feel like university is something that you want to do or something that you feel like you could possibly do, then try different avenues. "I could work and build up to become a nurse eventually." EU net migration to the UK falls to lowest level since 2003 Young people told - become a care worker EU migration: How has it changed the UK? A YouGov poll of 1,000 managers across all sectors, conducted in September 2019 for the Prince's Trust but not yet been published, found 63% of those in the public sector believed there was currently a skills shortage in their area. Prince's Trust chief executive Dame Martina Milburn said: "Some employers use recruitment processes that make it hard for them to fill vacancies as well as making it hard for young people to get their first job. "It is vital that employers start thinking about recruitment differently." please log in to view this image Image caption Employers need to change their recruitment practices to fill jobs, the Prince's Trust says The trust also hopes to train young people for the social-care sector, which employers fear suffers because it doesn't carry the same prestige as the NHS. The training organisation Skills for Care estimates there is a shortage of 11,500 staff in adult social care in the West Midlands region alone. Jagdeep Khatkar, director of Oakview care home, in the Birmingham suburb of Quinton, has begun to hire younger staff from his home city. He said: "The sector has had a bit of a PR issue in the past. "It's important that we now appeal to the younger people in particular and show that there is a real career path for young people to follow."
Even normal petrol/diesel cars have problems when they break down, the EMS will go into 'safe' mode which can be anything but safe, the steering and brakes become inoperative which in certain circumstances can really be a serious risk. I once had an alternator failure that left me stuck in the middle of a three lane road at a really busy period, not recommended...
NOOOOOOOOO! Who will we be able to take the P out of? Diane Abbott to step down from shadow cabinet https://news.sky.com/story/diane-abbott-to-step-down-from-shadow-cabinet-11941375
