Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 7,482
Youth Unemployment
43.2% Greece
34.4% Spain
33.1% Italy
23.5% Croatia
23.1% Cyprus
22.1% Portugal
20.7% France
19.7% Romania
18.9% Finland
18.2% Slovakia
17.7% Belgium
15.6% Sweden
11.9% Lithuania
11.9% Ireland
11.8% Latvia
11.5% UK
(8.7% US)
Just saying.
'If no one went no faster than what I do there'd be a sight less trouble in this world'
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Matthew Parris writing in the Times.
The way the Lady sees it,” Margaret Thatcher’s parliamentary private secretary, the late Ian Gow, once said to me, “is that once the crocodile is forced on to the mudbank you don’t help it back into the deep. You stick the knife in.” I’ve thought often of Ian’s advice since then, and never more urgently than this weekend. The Brexiteers are on a mudbank and beached; and a band of worried moderate Tory backbenchers and former ministers, anxious about the threat to their constituents’ livelihoods, ponder the hardest question of all in politics: not “what should I do?” but “when? Is now the moment?”
Behind the smiles, Boris Johnson and David Davis are floundering. It may prove the last, best moment. In a series of votes next week the knife must be wielded. Be in no doubt: the crocs are floundering. For the foreign secretary not only to believe that his government’s Brexit preparations are approaching (his word) “meltdown”, but to broadcast that opinion, suggests only one thing to those who know Boris Johnson. He’s heading noisily for the lifeboats.
I still blink in disbelief at three turbulent days last December. Mrs May thought she’d secured agreement for Northern Ireland to stay in an effective customs union with the EU until an invisible border with the Irish Republic could be invented. She was sent back to the negotiating table by the DUP’s Arlene Foster. And — lo! — she returned having enlarged that commitment to the whole of the United Kingdom! “That’s Brexit buggered,” I said to my partner as we walked alongside the Chesterfield Canal on December 8. And Boris? He rushed to congratulate May. Other Brexiteers bit their lips. They missed their moment. From December 6 to 8 their quarry was beached. They funked it.
The Brexit secretary, David Davis, kept his counsel about that Irish agreement, though he now seems to be suffering from late-onset buyer’s remorse. On Thursday the BBC misjudged the outcome of his latest spat with Downing Street. It was no victory for Mr Davis. The specifying of an end date for the duration of Britain’s continued “alignment” with EU trade rules was a decoy. The date is governed by the adjective “expected”. This makes (doubtless deliberately) nonsense of the pledge. We may expect all kinds of things, including the flying pigs that may well have to patrol the invisible Irish border. As Andrew Marr once said, in politics tortured syntax often betrays tortured thinking.
The next clash comes on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Commons division lobbies. This will be the biggest fight so far and, though not the last, may determine the final battle because it will define the battlefield. Let me explain. Government has already been forced to promise MPs a vote on the Brexit deal before Britain leaves, but that’s all. Ministers intend to wait until the last moment, then bounce parliament into assent by insisting that it’s this deal or no deal: ejection without parachute from the EU. Former Remainers won’t want this, obviously.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
My heart goes out to these poor people who might be forced to look after their own children.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jun/09/au-pair-shortage-prompts-crisis-for-familiesWeird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 2,844
Wasn't The Guardian once a serious newspaper?
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
John Buckley- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
Weird Granny Slater wrote:Wasn't The Guardian once a serious newspaper?
Probably correct granny, but personally I can’t remember that far back!
Howard, be fair now, how can you expect to “earn” your millions in the city if you have to stay at home and care for your own brats?
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
work at home john, online job.
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 2,900
Pack them off to Dover College or Northbourne Park. (And then move.)
Guest 1458 likes this
(Not my real name.)
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
the Torys are driving away the core voters by dragging out leaving, and I don't see them recovering from the fallout, of giving away over £40 billion of British taxpayers cash?
hopefully, after all, has ended we cut of southern Ireland for stabbing the British people in the back over the border negotiation.
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John Buckley- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
Courtesy of Politico.eu.
George Soros: Campaign for second Brexit referendum about to start
The Hungarian-American billionaire backs the Best for Britain initiative.
By MAGDALINE DUNCAN 5/29/18, 4:00 PM CET Updated 5/29/18, 4:55 PM CET
The campaign for a second Brexit referendum will start “in the next few days,” according to George Soros.
Speaking at an event held by the European Council for Foreign Relations think tank in Paris on Tuesday, Soros described Brexit as an example of “territorial disintegration” and blamed it for impairing the workings of the EU, according to the Times.
“Most of the damage is felt right now when the European Union is in an existential crisis, but its attention is diverted to negotiating a separation agreement with Britain. That’s a lose-lose proposition, but it could be converted into a win-win situation,” Soros said.
The 87-year-old billionaire backs Best for Britain, an anti-Brexit group that’s calling for a second referendum. He has reportedly donated more than £700,000 to the campaign.
The Hungarian-American has long been vocal about the vote to leave the EU, and previously said he refuses to “butt out” of the debate because the decision to leave was a “tragic mistake.”
Another referendum “would be good for Britain but would also render Europe a great service by rescinding Brexit and not creating a hard-to-fill hole in the European budget. But the British public must express its support by a convincing margin in order to be taken seriously by Europe. That’s what the Best for Britain is aiming for by engaging the electorate. It will publish its manifesto in the next few days,” Soros said.
However, Soros still thinks the EU needs reform.
“The economic case for remaining a member of the EU is strong, but it will take time for it to sink in. During that time the EU needs to transform itself into an association that countries like Britain would want to join, in order to strengthen the political case,” he said.
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I assume this is all legal and above board but I daresay if he was Russian we would be upset that a foreigner was trying to influence or subvert our internal political affairs? What it’s got to do with him I don’t know apart from perhaps hitting his EU investments. Having got that particular institution in the palm of his hand he probably expects a good return from it!
Can’t wait for the “Best for Britain” campaigners to come knocking on my door!
Brian Dixon likes this
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
"Another referendum “would be good for Britain but would also render Europe a great service by rescinding Brexit and not creating a hard-to-fill hole in the European budget."
Sums things up nicely, all seems rather late in the day to start this movement but the way things are going we will still be in the EU to some extent for another four years and a lot can happen in that time.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
we can build a lot of council houses with £40 billion .any politicians supporting giving this cash away to the EU should be outed from parliament.
the only referendum we need now is getting rid of the lords and bringing back the rope
John Buckley- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
The thoughts of Mr Farage concerning the relationship between Soros and the EU.
I found it interesting but the Nigel haters on here needn’t bother of course!
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
Very odd that you should choose to ignore studiously the revelations about Aaron Banks and the Russians. "Freedom and Direct Democracy Group" - my God, some people are stupid.
John Buckley- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
Thanks for your considered opinion Stuart, but however provocative, I shall refrain from replying to the personal insults, I realise that you remainers have had a difficult year or two and perhaps a video of Nigel was just too much to swallow?
( sorry, didn’t know that “ Aaron Banks and the Russians” had actually reached any sort of conclusion, but I think you’ve proved my point in that it’s ok for any foreigner to engage in political interference in order to assist the remain side but if it’s a Ruskie funding the leavers then that’s a no no? What’s the difference, both elements have their own vested interests? )
In my opinion no “foreign” money should be involved in our internal politics in any shape or form, but if it’s good enough for one side then surely it’s ok for the other to use the same tactics?
Reginald Barrington likes this
Reginald Barrington- Location: Dover
- Registered: 17 Dec 2014
- Posts: 3,206
I like the use of the adverb studiously, as if your post and link was a treatise on 'external interference in political institutions', "my god, some people are stupid!"
Arte et Marte
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
well it will be a intresting fortnight for the tory government with tory rebels threating to vote against the government.
Weird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 2,844
Surely it's possible to loathe both Farage and Soros. I do. Now, there's a compromise worth considering.
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,657
I can't stand Jacob Rees-Mogg, another rich posh boy with little knowledge of the real world that most of us live in and that includes Dover area and the port.
Button and howard mcsweeney1 like this
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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