That little pees-pot beetroot quasi republic as you say happens to be the 5th largest economy in the world, now given the size of it I’d say that’s some achievement, But it will have something more powerful next year, sovereignty....They say the pen is far mightier than the sword, look at Thatcher how she tried to bring down the unions,Blair who took us to war, both once were among the most powerful figures in the world yet both went from hero to zero with the stoke of a pen on Election Day, This is what terrifies the EU, Democracy, they like to keep a firm grasp on their power and come down with great force on anybody who threatens that, Well the people of the U.K have spoken, in great numbers and if that means 10p on a bag of carrots or a extra 500 squid on my next Audi then imo it’s a small price to pay ....:cheesy:
I hear and understand everything you say and how I wish that sovereignty and UK flavoured democracy were the cure-alls that you seem to think they are. The UK has been in economic and political decline since the last war and this was only exacerbated by the catastrophe that was the end of the Bretton Woods agreement that had been propping us up. (see balance of trade pic attached)
As to the idea of the EU being terrified by the idea of democracy itself - I just don't know where you can have got this idea from because it certainly isn't from Europe. The whole point of the original european unity wagon was to avoid the wars that autocratic rulers and fundamentally undemocratic systems brought about. As far back as Coudenhove Kalergy and even earlier the idea was for a europe that was so inextricably linked by trade, culture and universal democracy that wars would not be possible. If you care to remember, the old arrangements where royal families were supposed to do the same job on the basis that they were all related turned out to be rubbish as evidenced by the tragical farce of WW1.
As those same royal families fared badly, after 1918 a new mechanism was needed and it is unfortunate that Messrs Mussolini and Hitler preempted it's establishment.
After the next example of "how not to do Europe" with WW2 it seemed a sensible idea of spending some of that lovely American jubbly (Marshall plan etc - later OEEC and then OECD - I think) in watering the seeds of the first real european agreement, the coal and steel junket.
And the idea that British democracy is somehow of a better calibre than european democracy. Hmm, you point to the exits of Thatcher and Blair as examples of this superiority but then how does the political demise of General Gaulle fit in (who lost his head) figuratively speaking - by a referendum? Or more recently, the sudden rise of Macron and his brand new party??
Returning to economics: if you were to look a little more closely at the UK's situation over time you'd see that being "5th economy" in the world isn't quite the glowing achievement that it sounds. In fact, it's rather like the old joke "How do you make a small fortune?" Answer "Start off with a big one". A cursory glance through ONS figures shows exactly what's been happening to national GDP, debt and you name it and in this case, the trend is not your friend. How does it go: lower highs and lower lows....and when we see that, what do we do chaps??? Go Long and Vote for Brexit! I'll be buying a Put or two, meself.
Lastly and leastly, if the exchange rates stay more or less the same then your bag of Audi carrots will indeed not cost that much more. OTOH why do you think that anything will stay the same now that the decision has been taken to change everything? A very courageous decision indeed and I am over-awed by your optimism.
As I'm scarpering early, I'll leave you to turn off the lights.
To top it off, she blames Mogg and Johnston, who are simply ensuring that the will of the people is being carried out (Brexit).
