Brexit Discussion Thread.

[Guest MattP]

You mean his racism by 'a bit of his own personality' then?

 

Not really racism is it?

 

Although the Prince has more personality than all of the Royals put together, I would love to spend a day in his company.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Not really racism is it?

 

Although the Prince has more personality than all of the Royals put together, I would love to spend a day in his company.

 

Can you ask him why he killed Di?

 

 

 

For the record I don't believe it was anything but a tragic accident, but I'd ask him just for larks.

[Nick]

Not really racism is it?

 

Although the Prince has more personality than all of the Royals put together, I would love to spend a day in his company.

 

 

I'm sure you'd both get on great.

[leicsmac]

Not really racism is it?

 

Although the Prince has more personality than all of the Royals put together, I would love to spend a day in his company.

 

I'm thinking some of what he's said might, just might, push the envelope a little bit.

[Guest MattP]

I'm sure you'd both get on great.

 

Is that supposed to be an insult?

 

I'm thinking some of what he's said might, just might, push the envelope a little bit.

 

The word has lost any serious meaning anyway except for the people who want to scream it.

 

We all have different definitions of what racism is these days, I personally think it's going out of your way to make life difficult for somebody just because of the colour of their skin, but I know others some see it as voting for things like Brexit or controlling immigration.

[leicsmac]

 

The word has lost any serious meaning anyway except for the people who want to scream it.

 

We all have different definitions of what racism is these days, I personally think it's going out of your way to make life difficult for somebody just because of the colour of their skin, but I know others some see it as voting for things like Brexit or controlling immigration.

 

I would think that making disparaging remarks towards cultural differences and implying inherent inferiority because of that or their skin colour/appearance (when of course those cultural differences don't actually involve killing/oppressing/seeking to control others) falls under that definition too, but then I know you don't place as much importance on the words of influential people as I do which is fair enough.

[Guest MattP]

A list of his best gaffe, some are works of art.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prince-philip-quotes-relive-90-133848

 

1 After being told that Madonna was singing the Die Another Day theme in 2002: “Are we going to need ear plugs?”

2 To a car park attendant who didn’t recognise him in 1997, he snapped: “You bloody silly fool!”

3 To Simon Kelner, republican editor of The Independent, at Windsor Castle reception: “What are you doing here?” “I was invited, sir.” Philip: “Well, you didn’t have to come.”

4 To female sea cadet last year: “Do you work in a strip club?”

5 To expats in Abu Dhabi last year: “Are you running away from something?”

6 After accepting a conservation award in Thailand in 1991: “Your country is one of the most notorious centres of trading in endangered species.”

7 At a project to protect turtle doves in Anguilla in 1965, he said: “Cats kill far more birds than men. Why don’t you have a slogan: ‘Kill a cat and save a bird?’”

8 To multi-ethnic Britain’s Got Talent 2009 winners Diversity: “Are you all one family?”

9 To President of Nigeria, who was in national dress, 2003: “You look like you’re ready for bed!”

10 His description of Beijing, during a visit there in 1986: “Ghastly.”

11 At Hertfordshire University, 2003: “During the Blitz, a lot of shops had their windows blown in and put up notices saying, ‘More open than usual’. I now declare this place more open than usual.”

12 To deaf children by steel band, 2000: “Deaf? If you’re near there, no wonder you are deaf.”

13 To a tourist in Budapest in 1993: “You can’t have been here long, you haven’t got a pot belly.”

14 To a British trekker in Papua New Guinea, 1998: “You managed not to get eaten then?”

15 His verdict on Stoke-on-Trent, during a visit in 1997: “Ghastly.”

16 To Atul Patel at reception for influential Indians, 2009: “There’s a lot of your family in tonight.”

17 Peering at a fuse box in a Scottish factory, he said: “It looks as though it was put in by an Indian.” He later backtracked: “I meant to say cowboys.”

18 To Lockerbie residents after plane bombing, 1993: “People say after a fire it’s water damage that’s the worst. We’re still drying out Windsor Castle.”

19 In Canada in 1976: “We don’t come here for our health.”

20 “I never see any home cooking – all I get is fancy stuff.” 1987

21 On the Duke of York’s house, 1986: “It looks like a tart’s bedroom.”

22 Using Hitler’s title to address German chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1997, he called him: “Reichskanzler.”

23 “We go into the red next year... I shall have to give up polo.” 1969.

24 At party in 2004: “Bugger the table plan, give me my dinner!”

25 To a woman solicitor, 1987: “I thought it was against the law for a woman to solicit.”

26 To a civil servant, 1970: “You’re just a silly little Whitehall twit: you don’t trust me and I don’t trust you.”

27 On the 1981 recession: “A few years ago, everybody was saying we must have more leisure, everyone’s working too much. Now everybody’s got more leisure time they’re complaining they’re unemployed. People don’t seem to make up their minds what they want.”

28 On the new £18million British Embassy in Berlin in 2000: “It’s a vast waste of space.”

29 After Dunblane massacre, 1996: “If a cricketer suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat, are you going to ban cricket bats?”

30 To the Aircraft Research Association in 2002: “If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort – provided you don’t travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.”

31 On stress counselling for servicemen in 1995: “We didn’t have counsellors rushing around every time somebody let off a gun. You just got on with it!”

32 On Tom Jones, 1969: “It’s difficult to see how it’s possible to become immensely valuable by singing what are the most hideous songs.”

33 To the Scottish WI in 1961: “British women can’t cook.”

34 To then Paraguay dictator General Stroessner: “It’s a pleasure to be in a country that isn’t ruled by its people.”

35 To Cayman Islanders: “Aren’t most of you descended from pirates?”

36 To Scottish driving instructor, 1995: “How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?”

37 At a WF meeting in 1986: “If it has four legs and it’s not a chair, if it’s got two wings and it flies but is not an aeroplane and if it swims and it’s not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”

38 “You ARE a woman, aren’t you?” Kenya, 1984.

39 A VIP at a local airport asked HRH: “What was your flight, like, Your Royal Highness? Philip: “Have you ever flown in a plane?” VIP: “Oh yes, sir, many times.” “Well,” said Philip, “it was just like that.”

40 On Ethiopian art, 1965: “It looks like the kind of thing my daughter would bring back from school art lessons.”

41 To a fashion writer in 1993: “You’re not wearing mink knickers,are you?”

42 To Susan Edwards and her guide dog in 2002: “They have eating dogs for the anorexic now.”

43 When offered wine in Rome in 2000, he snapped: “I don’t care what kind it is, just get me a beer!”

44 “I’d like to go to Russia very much – although the bastards murdered half my family.” 1967.

45 At City Hall in 2002: “If we could just stop the tourism, we could stop the congestion.”

46 On seeing a piezo-meter water gauge in Australia: “A pissometer?”

47“You have mosquitoes. I have the Press.” To matron of Caribbean hospital, 1966.

48 At a Bangladeshi youth club in 2002:“So who’s on drugs here?... HE looks as if he’s on drugs.”

49 To achildren’s band in Australia in 2002: “You were playing your instruments? Or do you have tape recorders under your seats?”

50 At Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, 2006. “Young people are the same as they always were. Just as ignorant.”

51 On how difficult it is in Britain to get rich: “What about Tom Jones? He’s made a million and he’s a bloody awful singer.”

52 To Elton John on his gold Aston Martin in 2001: “Oh, it’s you that owns that ghastly car, is it?”

53 At an engineering school closed so he could officially open it, 2005: “It doesn’t look like much work goes on at this university.”

54 To Aboriginal leader William Brin, Queensland, 2002: “Do you still throw spears at each filmother?”

55 At a Scottish fish farm: “Oh! You’re the people ruining the rivers.”

56 After a breakfast of bacon, eggs, smoked salmon, kedgeree, croissants and pain au chocolat – from Gallic chef Regis Crépy, 2002: “The French don’t know how to cook breakfast.”

57 To schoolboy who invited the Queen to Romford, Essex, 2003: “Ah, you’re the one who wrote the letter. So you can write then?”

58 To black politician Lord Taylor of Warwick, 1999: “And what exotic part of the world do you come from?”

59 To parents at a previously struggling Sheffield school, 2003: “Were you here in the bad old days? ... That’s why you can’t read and write then!”

60 To Andrew Adams, 13, in 1998: “You could do with losing a little bit of weight.”

61 “Where’s the Southern Comfort?” When presented with a hamper of goods by US ambassador, 1999.

62 To editor of downmarket tabloid: “Where are you from?” “The S*n, sir.” Philip: “Oh, no . . . one can’t tell from the outside.”

63 Turning down food, 2000: “No, I’d probably end up spitting it out over everybody.”

64 Asking Cate Blanchett to fix his DVD player because she worked “in the film industry”, 2008: “There’s a cord sticking out of the back. Might you tell me where it goes?”

65 “People think there’s a rigid class system here, but dukes have even been known to marry chorus girls. Some have even married Americans.” 2000.

66 After hearing President Obama had had breakfast with leaders of the UK, China and Russia, 2010: “Can you tell the difference between them?”

67 On students from Brunei, 1998: “I don’t know how they’re going to integrate in places like Glasgow and Sheffield.”

68 On Princess Anne, 1970: “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.”

69 To wheelchair-bound nursing-home resident, 2002: “Do people trip over you?”

70 Discussing tartan with then-Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie last year: “That’s a nice tie... Do you have any knickers in that material?”

71 To a group of industrialists in 1961: “I’ve never been noticeably reticent about talking on subjects about which I know nothing.”

72 On a crocodile he shot in Gambia in 1957: “It’s not a very big one, but at least it’s dead and it took an awful lot of killing!”

73 On being made Chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1953: “Only a Scotsman can really survive a Scottish education.”

74 “I must be the only person in Britain glad to see the back of that plane.” He hated the noise Concorde made flying over Buckingham Palace, 2002

75 To a fashion designer, 2009: “Well, you didn’t design your beard too well, did you?”

76 To the General Dental Council in 1960: “Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, which I’ve practised for many years.”

77 On stroking a koala in 1992: “Oh no, I might catch some ghastly disease.”

78 On marriage in 1997: “You can take it from me the Queen has the quality of tolerance in abundance.”

79 To schoolchildren in blood-red uniforms, 1998: “It makes you all look like Dracula’s daughters!”

80 “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing.” 1988.

81 To female Labour MPs in 2000: “So this is feminist corner then.”

82 On Nottingham Forest trophies in 1999: “I suppose I’d get in trouble if I were to melt them down.”

83 “It’s my custom to say something flattering to begin with so I shall be excused if I put my foot in it later on.” 1956.

84 To a penniless student in 1998: “Why don’t you go and live in a hostel to save cash?”

85 On robots colliding, Science Museum, 2000: “They’re not mating are they?”

86 While stuck in a Heriot Watt University lift in 1958: “This could only happen in a technical college.”

87 To newsreader Michael Buerk, when told he knew about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Awards, 2004: “That’s more than you know about anything else then.”

88 To a British student in China, 1986: “If you stay here much longer, you’ll go home with slitty eyes.”

89 To journalist Caroline Wyatt, who asked if the Queen was enjoying a Paris trip, 2006: “Damn fool question!”

90 On smoke alarms to a woman who lost two sons in a fire, 1998: “They’re a damn nuisance - I’ve got one in my bathroom and every time I run my bath the steam sets it off.”

[Thracian]

You mean his racism by 'a bit of his own personality' then?

 

 

 

If you'd said "tasteless wit" I might have agreed in one or two instances. But if you really see his flippancy as racism, you're over sensitive and making light of the subject.   

[Sharpe's Fox]

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Got to the point now, where I couldn't give a flying feck, about the words racist / racism. Far too many pathetic twats bandying it around these days, just because they don't have the mental capacity, to discern what racism actually means. It  exists only, in the "D.T. Dictionary of Useless Words", produced under the pseudonym of R U. White, and edited by A. Black.

[Great Boos Up]

I've been affected a lot this week by brexit. Mainly the strength of the pound against the euro. Raw materials bought from Europe now need paying and I'm getting less product for my quid. On the other hand people exporting are getting some big orders on the cheap.

Nice to see it fighting back for two days. Stability is key here, everyone wants to know what they are getting for their money.

Forget the stock exchange; that's just people with lots of money gambling.

  We never adopted the euro so as long as the pound stays much stronger we may always have a better hand to play over the next few years. Still, it's not my money, I'm just making someone else rich who is moaning like a spoilt child.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

Got to the point now, where I couldn't give a flying feck, about the words racist / racism. Far too many pathetic twats bandying it around these days, just because they don't have the mental capacity, to discern what racism actually means. It  exists only, in the "D.T. Dictionary of Useless Words", produced under the pseudonym of R U. White, and edited by A. Black.

Why are those of us who voted to leave the E.U., on the grounds of immigration, in any respect, derogatory to immigrants nationality or colour? An immigrant is someone of non British race, who wishes to reside in our country, whatever their creed or colour.

[Finnaldo]

Why are those of us who voted to leave the E.U., on the grounds of immigration, in any respect, derogatory to immigrants nationality or colour? An immigrant is someone of non British race, who wishes to reside in our country, whatever their creed or colour.

You're on record for saying there's nothing wrong with the word 'wog'.

Plus what the fvck is a British 'race' lol lord give me strength.

[Dr The Singh]

You're on record for saying there's nothing wrong with the word 'wog'.

Plus what the fvck is a British 'race' lol lord give me strength.

I'm sure DT believes in what he says and would go upto a bunch of black people and tell them to there face why the word 'wog' in his time is acceptable.

[Thracian]

https://www.rt.com/news/331981-trump-merkel-putin-refugees/

[Thracian]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36818055

 

 

Music to my ears.  

[Alf Bentley]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36818055

 

 

Music to my ears.  

 

 

Makes sense to investigate all trade options, including Australia. But let's get things into perspective. Australia currently accounts for about 1% of our trade. It isn't even in our Top 15 export destinations (see below). Europe, USA, Asia and Middle East matter much more. Even if we doubled our trade with Australia, that level would still be below our trade with 6-7 individual EU countries, never mind the EU as a whole - and countries in Asia, Latin America & Africa are likely to grow more quickly.. Did you also note the Aussie PM's comment that such trade deals are "complicated and time-consuming" and the comment that Australia recently completed a trade deal with China....which took 10 years to complete?

 

 http://www.worldstopexports.com/united-kingdoms-top-import-partners/

1. United States: US$66.5 billion (14.5% of total UK exports)
2. Germany: $46.4 billion (10.1%)
3. Switzerland: $32.2 billion (7%)
4. China: $27.4 billion (5.9%)
5. France: $27 billion (5.9%)
6. Netherlands: $26.6 billion (5.8%)
7. Ireland: $25.5 billion (5.5%)
8. Belgium: $17.8 billion (3.9%)
9. Spain: $13.1 billion (2.8%)
10. Italy: $12.9 billion (2.8%)
11. United Arab Emirates: $10.3 billion (2.2%)
12. Hong Kong: $9.6 billion (2.1%)
13. South Korea: $7 billion (1.5%)
14. Saudi Arabia: $6.7 billion (1.5%)
15. Sweden: $6.6 billion (1.4%)

(N.B. One of the many EU trade deals that we will lose and have to renegotiate is the one with South Korea)

 

Interesting article here, suggesting that David Davis wants us to leave the single market and agree a deal like the one that Canada has just signed with the EU: 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/15/uk-canada-advice-post-brexit-trade-deals-eu-ceta

 

Some frankly worrying quotes from that article:

"[The Canadian trade minister] said securing such deals was “very, very complicated. There are 300 trade negotiators in Canada. It takes a big expert team to negotiate trade agreements. The UK does not have the expertise to negotiate trade deals, as for decades agreements have been conducted at EU level. Whitehall is scouring business, the European commission, and friendly countries including Canada for trade specialists to help lead talks.[...] A former chief economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the government had people who understood trade policy, but did not have negotiators.“No doubt people will have to be brought in from outside. They will look to get people wherever they can find them, and Canada and New Zealand would be good places to look. This is a huge agenda and it’s a long process.””

 

"Canada took seven years to finalise its deal with the EU and it is not expected to be implemented until 2017". 

 

"[The Canadian trade minister] said Canada had secured a “gold standard” deal with the EU. However, she made clear that while it had secured “ambitious services agreements”, it would not enjoy the same level of “passporting” that the UK currently has as a member state – a status that enables banks and financial services businesses to trade freely".

 

So, we can look forward to a major shrinkage in the City of London, if we leave the single market and opt for a Canada-type deal....when financial services is one of the country's dominant sectors. Maybe an EU-UK trade deal would happen more quickly than 7 years....or maybe it would take longer? Worth remembering, too, that under Article 50 the EU aren't obliged to negotiate a trade deal at all - the 2-year negotiating period only concerns negotiations over the terms of Brexit, not future trading arrangements. Of course, the EU may opt to negotiate over trade arrangements in tandem with Brexit negotiations, but they might not....that will depend on many factors including what sort of deal we're looking for, how flexible we are, what the "red lines" of the EU27 are, what's happening in internal politics on the continent (rise of Euroscepticism/nationalism, French/German elections in 2017 etc.).

[Countryfox]

Makes sense to investigate all trade options, including Australia. But let's get things into perspective. Australia currently accounts for about 1% of our trade. It isn't even in our Top 15 export destinations (see below). Europe, USA, Asia and Middle East matter much more. Even if we doubled our trade with Australia, that level would still be below our trade with 6-7 individual EU countries, never mind the EU as a whole - and countries in Asia, Latin America & Africa are likely to grow more quickly.. Did you also note the Aussie PM's comment that such trade deals are "complicated and time-consuming" and the comment that Australia recently completed a trade deal with China....which took 10 years to complete?

 

 http://www.worldstopexports.com/united-kingdoms-top-import-partners/

• United States: US$66.5 billion (14.5% of total UK exports)
• Germany: $46.4 billion (10.1%)
• Switzerland: $32.2 billion (7%)
• China: $27.4 billion (5.9%)
• France: $27 billion (5.9%)
• Netherlands: $26.6 billion (5.8%)
• Ireland: $25.5 billion (5.5%)
• Belgium: $17.8 billion (3.9%)
• Spain: $13.1 billion (2.8%)
• Italy: $12.9 billion (2.8%)
• United Arab Emirates: $10.3 billion (2.2%)
• Hong Kong: $9.6 billion (2.1%)
• South Korea: $7 billion (1.5%)
• Saudi Arabia: $6.7 billion (1.5%)
• Sweden: $6.6 billion (1.4%)

(N.B. One of the many EU trade deals that we will lose and have to renegotiate is the one with South Korea)

 

Interesting article here, suggesting that David Davis wants us to leave the single market and agree a deal like the one that Canada has just signed with the EU: 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/15/uk-canada-advice-post-brexit-trade-deals-eu-ceta

 

Some frankly worrying quotes from that article:

"[The Canadian trade minister] said securing such deals was “very, very complicated. There are 300 trade negotiators in Canada. It takes a big expert team to negotiate trade agreements. [/size]The UK does not have the expertise to negotiate trade deals, as for decades agreements have been conducted at EU level. Whitehall is scouring business, the European commission, and friendly countries including Canada for trade specialists to help lead talks.[...] A[/size] former chief economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the government had people who understood trade policy, but did not have negotiators.[/size]“No doubt people will have to be brought in from outside. They will look to get people wherever they can find them, and Canada and New Zealand would be good places to look. This is a huge agenda and it’s a long process.”[/size]”[/size]

 

"[/size]Canada took seven years to finalise its deal with the EU and it is not expected to be implemented until 2017". [/size]

 

"[The Canadian trade minister] said Canada had secured a “gold standard” deal with the EU. However, she made clear that while it had secured “ambitious services agreements”, it would not enjoy the same level of “passporting” that the UK currently has as a member state – a status that enables banks and financial services businesses to trade freely". [/size]

 

So, we can look forward to a major shrinkage in the City of London, if we leave the single market and opt for a Canada-type deal....when financial services is one of the country's dominant sectors. Maybe an EU-UK trade deal would happen more quickly than 7 years....or maybe it would take longer? Worth remembering, too, that under Article 50 the EU aren't obliged to negotiate a trade deal at all - the 2-year negotiating period only concerns negotiations over the terms of Brexit, not future trading arrangements. Of course, the EU may opt to negotiate over trade arrangements in tandem with Brexit negotiations, but they might not....that will depend on many factors including what sort of deal we're looking for, how flexible we are, what the "red lines" of the EU27 are, what's happening in internal politics on the continent (rise of Euroscepticism/nationalism, French/German elections in 2017 etc.).[/size]

Thanks Alf that soon dampened down the little smile I had on my face.

[Alf Bentley]

Thanks Alf that soon dampened down the little smile I had on my face.

 

 

 

It's my life's mission to spread crushing misery wherever I go.

 

No, I'm probably a mildly optimistic realist by nature. If LCFC get drawn to play at the Nou Camp, I'll believe that while we'll probably lose, we're definitely in with a chance if we perform at our best.

What I'm not is the equivalent of an Oadby Town fan saying "We've been drawn at the Nou Camp. All we need is belief and optimism. Shut up, you doubters, we're going to go there and win 10-0. Simple, Believe!"

 

Brexit may work out really well for us in the long-term, after a few tricky years, or the EU may end up in a worse state than us. Or the EU may get its act together and Brexit may prove utterly disastrous for us, causing widespread poverty, destitution, social conflict, violence and misery.

 

My guess is that it will be somewhere between the two. After many tricky years with more economic downs than ups, a certain amount of social misery and a decade or so of grinding negotiations and complex relationships all around the world, we'll emerge as survivors, only SOMEWHAT poorer, diminished, isolated and socially ragged than we would have been if we'd stayed put.

 

Anyway, as NP used to say "we move on to the next game". Previous generations have had world wars to cope with, so unless something like that happens (or the worst climate change predictions), we're lucky people.

 

 

[Thracian]

Thanks Alf that soon dampened down the little smile I had on my face.

 

 

 

But not mine. Even from the list of trading partners I reckon we're certain to continue trading with at least nine of them one way or another and while I entirely agree with Alf's final comment, I'd be inclined to bet (modestly) that without remarkable and radical reform, the EU will implode in next-to-no-time after the UK's departure and trading blocks will seem as old fashioned as winklepickers as everyone seeks to go global without barriers.

 

Not only is the US already on about an agreement but at least two states as well, Indiana and Pennsylvania, I believe, with the former having committed to a full-page advert mocking Obama's view that we'll find ourselves at the end of the queue.

 

One thing particularly mentioned by Liam Fox is his realising how incredibly highly we're regarded and trusted in the word of trade and finance, factors that  may well become increasingly important in such a troubled world.   

 

Indeed the only thing that concerns me is social stability and I really don't know who are likely to be the greater danger - ideological zealots or The Trades Unions pulling the strings of the Labour Party.

 

Because I firmly believe that both would put their own ends ahead of the general population's best interests. And as time goes on, I imagine the two will be ever-more closely connected, a problem that Eagles might have recognised but won't ever have the chance to change unless she somehow aligns herself to an alternative Labour Party, either reformed after splitting from the existing one, or cloned from the embers of something else.           

 

Even then it will be hard because, if Theresa May's as good as her word, traditional Labour voters will have plenty to look forward to from the present government.  

[Countryfox]

But not mine. Even from the list of trading partners I reckon we're certain to continue trading with at least nine of them one way or another and while I entirely agree with Alf's final comment, I'd be inclined to bet that without remarkable and radical reform, the EU will implode in next-to-no-time after the UK's departure and trading blocks will seem as old fashioned as winklepickers as everyone seeks to go global without barriers.

 

Not only is the US already on about an agreement but at least two states as well, Indiana and Pennsylvania, I believe, with the former having committed to a full-page advert mocking Obama's view that we'll find ourselves at the end of the queue.

 

One thing particularly mentioned by Liam Fox is his realising how incredibly highly we're regarded and trusted in the word of trade and finance, factors that  may well become increasingly important in such a troubled world.   

 

Indeed the only thing that concerns me is social stability and I really don't know who are likely to be the greater danger - Islamic zealots or The Trades Unions pulling the strings of the Labour Party.

 

Because I firmly believe that both would put their own ends ahead of the country's best interests. And as time goes on, I imagine the two will be ever-more closely connected, a problem that Eagles might have recognised but won't ever have the chance to change unless she somehow aligns herself to an alternative Labour Party, either reformed after splitting from the existing one, or cloned from the embers of something else.           

Even then it will be hard because, if Theresa May's as good as her word, traditional Labour voters will have plenty to look forward to from the present government.  

 

Well said Thrac      ....    and I'm never going to wear my winklepickers again !!

[Dr The Singh]

Well said Thrac .... and I'm never going to wear my winklepickers again !!

What's a winkle-pickers, you and Thrac having some sort of fetish?

[Countryfox]

What's a winkle-pickers, you and Thrac having some sort of fetish?

 

Its a long pointy thing for pulling winkles out their shells ....   you wear them on a chain round your neck when looking for winkles at the seaside ...    

 

I think you are right about the fetish thing ...   doggers wear them in case things get trapped in places they shouldn't get trapped in (often happens due to bad lighting) ...    

 

All in all a very useful but old fashioned bit of kit ...   sadly now replaced by an app on your iphone.

[davieG]

The generation who claimed the older generation ruined their future by voting Brexit are the generation currently chasing imaginary Pokemon.

[leicsmac]

The generation who claimed the older generation ruined their future by voting Brexit are the generation currently chasing imaginary Pokemon.

Yep. Imagine...a generation so disenfranchised, so lacking control over their own futures due to the actions of their forebears, have had to turn to that kind of escapism in order to deal with the shittiness of it all.

NB. I don't actually believe that - young people probably have more active control over the political future of the UK than they know - but it is food for thought.