Brexit and the Consequences

It’s not just Carillion. The whole privatisation myth has been exposed


The era of “private good, public bad” is drawing to a close. Unshakeable faith in Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation creed is being killed off not just by counter-ideology, but by the sheer irrationality, expense and failure of so many private contracts

Add private rail in there too. 4 x more expensive and subsidised by Government.

Privatised profits and public debt is the new norm +++ Fat Cat Profits for abysmal performance.

Yep we are ready to leave the EU and take on the World! What a joke!


I hear the NHS on the news. Everybody is talking about lack of funding and not one person has quoted NHS tourists being the cause. Surely, they should stop foreign elements from abusing system so it will free up resources to deal with the elderly. I hear Boris is going to wade into argument about how 450m a week now will be made available to NHS, only if we could simply leave the EU and stop funding those crooked and inefficient damn pesky Europeans.

Thank goodness we have the Tories and UKIP to help sort out our problems!!!


(y)

84% of PFI contracts initiated under Labour.
So Polly whatsherface can fek right off.
 

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Yes Atilla, you started all this and are personally responsible for the resultant 500+ posts…..CV has helped you along but I see you both. Atilla, despite your protestions of niceness and the many helpings of the milk of human kindness I’m sure you’re most likely a closet Stalinist and probably not averse to the odd Gulag; meanwhile CV comes across as a Fascist executioner with a predilection for cruel and unnatural punishments but is actually a retired curate without a malicious bone in his body. Anyway, it’s all fun...but just not the laughing kind. Well, not entirely true, I have been very entertained

I once used to be capitalist fascist - who would have guessed? I supported US action in Latin America and other places fighting against the old USSR. How much can any one man change??? I'm afraid your painting is more abstract than a work of art. Sorry to disappoint. (n)

Reading back through it all though, is overall a fairly disheartening experience for reasons anchored in both the minutiae of current affairs and human nature:

IMHO your first serious gaffe is in the framing of the title: Brexit and the consequences – this is a journo header and in the profession (to which I used to belong) it’s about making it look as if there IS a specific and clearly definable set of answers to the question when actually, if the question was put slightly differently it’d be worth all of 3 short paras scribbled down over a hastily swallowed and utterly disgusting office coffee.

Once again if Brexiteers adhered to the rule of law, parliament and the rest building a case for exit and what comes after with some impact analysis I may have been enthused about it all. Considering we've had no BIA there remains only the consequence resulting from the impact. Politicians got swept away with all the media hype and their own grasp at power. Let's not forget all the people now in charge were nobodies but Eurosceptics. Surprised Redwood hasn't made a play along with the 10 Dining St cat. I suppose with a nose like his he didn't have Boris locks or Govey spectacles to make him appealing.

Nothing wrong with title re: Consequences imho. If anything considering how quickly article 50 was invoked it's simply very apt! Conducting Impact Assessments after invoking, is much like a fly and ones windscreen traveling at 70mph. Does Davies think with his top or middle half? Difficult to know based on his actions and speech.


Then again, you could have left out the “sequences” bit of the thread title and it would have made all the difference - the lies, deceit and consistently disingenuous behaviour and attitude of the politicos that got the UK into the EU and are now getting it out, would make for a fine investigative tome. It’s a pity that a lot of these b&stards are now dead, out of office, scarpered or knighted as that leaves us in the position of the Nazi-hunters. If there are no war crims left alive to hunt down / they’ve managed to reinvent themselves as South American guinea-pig breeders / have very publicly seen the light and are suitably contrite, then the Foundation shuts its doors and we have to find some other band of sinners to hunt and noble cause to follow.

Key b&astard to use your label :)o) was Churchill imho. He felt UK was too good and mighty to join the European Steel and Coal Community. Didn't want to sink to such levels. Country broke and half starving, millions dead, felt he was above it all. Much like today's Brexiteers who over extend their ability and what they can accomplish without any real fundamentals behind them. Much bluster than any real thunder. Sail has more holes in it than Swiss cheese and what with their misplaced belief the wind is behind them one can only laugh. Took good 10 years for UK to realise Churchill was a great war leader but a useless politician and not joining ESCC was a mistake. You mistaking or mixing up the roles in this Shakespearean tragedy the parts such politicians played. Have another think and a drink?

Not easy as hunting down Nazi's in Argentina. You know long time ago I went out with a girl who I'm sure was the the grand daughter of one. Her mother was a German who married an Argentinian but they got divorced and subsequently, moved to New York. I wondered how such a relationship could come to be but now it makes perfect sense.


So, we’re left with talking about what will be, rather than seeking out and punishing those who are responsible for what is. The consequences of Brexit are endless, the fattest and longest of all tails - “This one will run and run” but trying to narrow it down and pick out the juiciest cherries and the really stinking turds is a waste of time – there will be latrines full of the latter anyway. We’re dealing with the future so let’s try and stay within the realms of the vaguely possible.

Consequences are fairly simple imo. Seeing them already. EMA EBA tarrifs on farming produce, car exports and collapse of currency and purchasing power all before our eyes. May come as a surprise to some but mentioned many a times. Migrants stop coming here too. Numbers have fallen by a third. Simply that the pound is not worth as much so they are better employed in Spain or France. What with the Euro rising it's a no brainer. Nurses down 18%. Whilst other nurses leave. Then we have the Tories who've removed nursing bursaries. Then we are told they are in training taking out loans to do damn hard work for incredibly low salaries in jobs with low morale in crises wards. No worries. Blame NHS tourists. Incredibly not funny the rational behind it all. Must make sense to someone at the top right?

What is happening now will continue to happen and if we look back at history both modern and more ancient, the road travelled is as clear as it’s obvious that Cameron, Boris or Corbin (and the list goes on and on...and on) are / were not wise choices as leaders of anything except the local tiddlywinks club and even that I'd argue with.

Corbyn remains to be seen. He is a man of principal and rare in today's politicians.

The Brexit equation is as about as far from binomial as one can get. There is no black or white, good or evil or whatever and a reductive approach ad absurdum just makes both sides ridiculous. In short, lots of things will be better, lots of things will be worse – and very probably indeed, a great many of those things will be just changing places. In the meantime we’re all trying to guess which particular set of circumstances is going to lead to a particular set of results – this is an utter waste of time and effort. The best anyone can do is look at what’s happening generally and what has gone before, also generally and then, if we’re lucky, make a vague projection that’s not complete fantasy.

See above. We are already seeing effects. Might help more if we had manufacturing but sadly as our economy is well skewed up drop in pound results more in inflation import than export led growth. The UK is doing well at the moment (although not as well as before Brexit) but as 'experts' have outlined, that is more to rest of Globe picking up pace.

In case I’ve given anyone the impression that I’m a “Remainer” : Nah! Remain with things as they were /are is as illogical as leaving because of them. Belonging to a club which doesn’t really want you as a member with whose rules you don’t agree is an exercise in futility but deciding not to play at all without negotiating is just ludicrous. Monstrous Maggie fought the UK corner and got better deals out of mebership – the Europeans didn’t like her but they respected her position and her abilities; she did a lot of harm but in that case, she did OK and the current bunch now just throw that all away! With Brexit, it’s not just the baby that’s being slung out with the bathwater but the taps, bath and most of the house; the process openly and proudly sh1ts on anything that Britain ever did get out of membership. Needless to say, the attitude towards all this across the Channel is mostly mild irritation and amusement – along the lines of “If you insist on leaving your place empty and moving to Tierra del Fuego for the forseeable future then you won’t be too surprised or disappointed when we move in and shortly forget you ever existed.” ...and then, guess what? We come over all indignant and surprised. There’s definitely no overstimating people’s stupidity and especially so when they’ve been elected.

Tempted to agree with you here but once again the illusion of well being is misplaced. UK is great because of EU membership. This is much like a football team. Striker may get the goals and the glory but without midfield or defence, striker is simply one dick on a big pitch if not part of a team. I'd like to bring your elegant exposition down to something the lay man in the Brexiteer can relate to ;)



As for migrants, identity and culture. I disagree completely that these are not factors – if people think that these are the issues of Brexit then they are the issues of Brexit. It’s not what is true, it’s what people believe even if it’s mostly obvious nonsense and lies. When things turn out to be worse, then they will think something else because the situation will have changed…. Mr D among them:)

Well the Johnny foreigner took the blame for;
1. Low wages
2. Cash starved services and infrastructure in NHS and public transport
3. Housing crises

All their fault. Well done UKIP and the tories for identifying such a great observation.

How simply marvellous to get rid of the foreign element to cure all our problems.

Yep makes sense I'll have few pounds of that.


Britain was a European entity for a long time before and during and since the advent of nation states. The English have had their own perceived and “special” identity for many centuries. This identity and our position relative to the rest of Europe and the world has changed with the ebb and flow of mercantile, military and political power. What has happened has resulted in what is happening and that, grasshopper, is going to determine what will happen. That road led here and it goes ever on. Britain had its day in the sun with an Empire that set very rapidly and part of the current problem is that there are still enough people alive today with personal or inherited memories of past glories. The UK stopped really mattering on the world stage at the end of the second war – that many many people think it mattered even after and does still in 2018 is merely a collective delusion. Ours (yes, I too, claim part-ownership) is a small insignificant island populated by mongrels. The glorious past is a load of ephemeral bolleaux. UK military power is laughable, our political influence is today bordering on the insignificant and the only reason why the City of London employed hundreds of thousands of people in a massive financial hub is pure inertia – it used to make sense, so it didn’t make sense to leave...but now it doesn’t make much sense to stay, so the banks and institutions are already leaving. The UK is Iceland...only without the fish. What’s not to understand?

Ha!

We are back to identity crises in your last paragraph. I agree with much of what you say here. UK and US still trying to play the same game when both Russia, China and quite a few other so called Kommi great nations have taken our ball and run off with it. Once again much like football, we may have invented the industrial revolution but we are pretty naff at it now. Soon there will be no one old enough to remember when the UK last won a football tournament or produced anything mechanical that people wanted to purchase. No matter we are British and we've got our hoover maker Mr Dysan. We can take on the World with that don't need the EU'ers.

The City of London is special and has a special place in the globe. The only place that spans NA and Asia time zones. Whilst this may have given it some USP increasingly, skills and talents which it prides her self is being eroded. Same goes for Lloyd's of London which almost lost out to the Asian tigers some years back.

I fear we have already lost an edge, one example Euro Clearing and I wouldn't be surprised if after Brexit should it materialise, the Germans will eventually buy LSE and then change EU rules to integrate after we cough up few more billions to allow us back in.

There is some rotten fish in all the Brexit fiasco but Brexiteers will be Brexiteers. Hate to confess De Gaul may have been right. I've heard one UKIP geezer campaigned to have the Chunnel Tunnel closed. Bricked up using Polish voters :cheesy:

Another great leader in waiting!!! No worries we're English.


Time to stop doodling... Obviously :)
 
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84% of PFI contracts initiated under Labour.
So Polly whatsherface can fek right off.

John Major
Development. In 1992 PFI was implemented for the first time in the UK by the Conservative government of John Major. It immediately proved controversial, and was attacked by the Labour Party while in opposition.
Private finance initiative - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_finance_initiative


The Private Finance Initiative is a big part of the privatisation that's killing England's NHS, so why aren’t any of the main parties opposed to it?

Master plan to kill off NHS and introduce US style health spending... :idea:



4. Who is to blame for PFI?

Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes were introduced to the UK under the John Major Government in the 1990s, with the first PFI project [Skye Bridge] tested in Scotland.

Tony Blair’s New Labour Government significantly expanded PFI as a convenient way of funding public infrastructure “off balance sheet.”

Despite frequently calling for an end to "Labours flawed PFI program" whilst in opposition, in 2011 Chancellor George Osborne rebranded and continued the PFI gravy train under the "PFI 2" banner.



Say whaaaaaat?????
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42806207

So, Brexit is a mistake not a disaster!
How very presumptuous and out of touch :LOL:


I'm pretty certain that we Brits made no mistake and history will prove us correct.
Now where's my flags!

As it was, IMO the referendum was an error of judgement, rather than a mistake....after all, it was a deliberate and premeditated (but badly thought out) act rather than just butter fingers:)

...as for history: rather like market timing, I have no doubt whatsoever that you will be proved correct though I'd hazard that we'll be waiting for a lot longer than any of us would like. Perhaps our grandchildren will be lucky.

Your flag preference does you credit. I suggest adding this one as a backstop:p
 

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https://twitter.com/RGuerrina

Is this the most ridiculous anti-Brexit stance so far?

View attachment 249544

tldr

I'm suffering from failure to vocalise. It's a condition whereby the opposition (whoever or whatever they may be) tries to put across some high falutin argument to further their cause. Most of these pet projects leave the great unwashed majority absolutely stone cold, because they have no basis in reality.

academic definition

1) someone who teaches at a college, or who studies as part of their job
2) relating to schools, colleges, and universities, or connected with studying and thinking, not with practical skills:
3) used to describe someone who is clever and enjoys studying:
4) based on ideas and theories and not related to practical effects in real life:

CV definition of academic

1) someone who knows more and more about less and less


urban dictionary definition

as an adjective -- insufferably obtuse
as a noun -- an un-entertaining charlatan
adj.: that essay was so downright academic i didn't even bother taking my benzos before bed.

noun: this academic keeps going on and on about the most insanely boring **** practically nobody has ever heard of.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=academia

The list on the right is hilarious.
 
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Dishwashers are a man’s job, no doubt about that. Which makes the EU against all of mankind if they press ahead with reducing the power of that bit of machinery.
 
Yes, I agree there, Hands up everyone that empties and re-stacks the dishwasher after the wife has loaded it...it’s like they do it on purpose just to wind you up..
 
Yes, I agree there, Hands up everyone that empties and re-stacks the dishwasher after the wife has loaded it...it’s like they do it on purpose just to wind you up..

Goodness gracious me!!! :-0:-0:-0

We have the great Davos shows and some very important Brexit negotiations on going and all you chaps want to talk about is dishwasher and washing machines :LOL::LOL::LOL:

A little like the old old very old grannies club :LOL:


Stick this in your pipes!
 
Yes, I agree there, Hands up everyone that empties and re-stacks the dishwasher after the wife has loaded it...it’s like they do it on purpose just to wind you up..

I look after the dishwasher & the car; she looks after the washing machine & the garden. We don't have any of that "Sisterhood" or "New Man" stuff around these parts. :rolleyes:
 
. . . Hands up everyone that empties and re-stacks the dishwasher after the wife has loaded it...it’s like they do it on purpose just to wind you up..
Ouch!
Something tells me your wife doesn't read what you post on here Mike! And of course, things can stay that way, for a small 'consideration'. Does a couple of pints sound fair to you?
:LOL:
 
I stand there in front of her Tim and do it, cursing under my breath....I doesn't appear to make any difference..:LOL: women eh ?
 
Goodness gracious me!!! :-0:-0:-0

We have the great Davos shows and some very important Brexit negotiations on going and all you chaps want to talk about is dishwasher and washing machines :LOL::LOL::LOL:

A little like the old old very old grannies club :LOL:

Never mind Davos, you have a medal presentation to attend :cheesy::cheesy::cheesy:
 
Oh look what came out of the wash???

Who could have guessed Davis name in the limelight between Hammond and Clark's!!! What a shocker???



Hammond, Davis, Clark Give Brexit Assurances to U.K. Businesses
By Alex Morales
January 26, 2018, 10:00 PM GMT

Three U.K. cabinet ministers promised a speedy agreement on a Brexit transition phase in an open letter to British businesses, seeking to give them certainty over the immediate future.

Britain wants an implementation period of “around two years,” during which the terms of trade with the EU’s other 27 members will remain unchanged, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Brexit Secretary David Davis and Business Secretary Greg Clark wrote in the letter, published late on Friday by Davis’s department.

During the transition, Britain will also adhere to EU rules and regulations, and will allow the free movement of EU citizens, who will be allowed to come to Britain to live and work, the ministers wrote. All sectors, “from goods to agriculture to financial services” and all businesses will be able to trade with the EU as they do today, they said.
 
Oh look what came out of the wash???

Who could have guessed Davis name in the limelight between Hammond and Clark's!!! What a shocker???



Hammond, Davis, Clark Give Brexit Assurances to U.K. Businesses
By Alex Morales
January 26, 2018, 10:00 PM GMT

Three U.K. cabinet ministers promised a speedy agreement on a Brexit transition phase in an open letter to British businesses, seeking to give them certainty over the immediate future.

Britain wants an implementation period of “around two years,” during which the terms of trade with the EU’s other 27 members will remain unchanged, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Brexit Secretary David Davis and Business Secretary Greg Clark wrote in the letter, published late on Friday by Davis’s department.

During the transition, Britain will also adhere to EU rules and regulations, and will allow the free movement of EU citizens, who will be allowed to come to Britain to live and work, the ministers wrote. All sectors, “from goods to agriculture to financial services” and all businesses will be able to trade with the EU as they do today, they said.

Meanwhile, great interview by Piers Morgan on Trump. Bit of a scoop actually for a no nonsense Brit journalist grabbing the first foreign interview with the leader of the free world since his election.

When pressed on opposition figures like Corbyn and the like, Trump said, he doesn't care what they think! :LOL:(y) Good stuff eh.

He's not very happy though that a US UK trade deal cannot be done quickly because our own politicians are arsing about trying to placate the EU. He said "he would have negotiated differently, taken a harder line with them".

Once again, CV was spot on on how to deal with the EU. Go figure ! :LOL:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-42850362/trump-i-would-have-taken-a-tougher-stand-in-getting-out
 
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