Irexit
I haven't mentioned Brexit before.
It has no effect on me personally so you would imagine that I would have no opinion. But there again I seem to have an opinion on everything so I had better grow one fast for Brexit?
I have seen the occasional report in the meeja that Brexit would be disastrous for Ireland, and I have also seen reports that our Dame Enda has been over imploring the Brits to stay in the EU. Why the Brits should take any notice of Dame Enda is beyond me as we ignore him here, even in his own country.
The Brexit vote is typical of any other EU vote – tons of propaganda stating that the sky will fall in and the UK will disappear into a black hole if they fail to follow the wishes of the EU masters. If the Brits vote to leave then there will be re-runs persuading them why they are mis guided and they really must vote again to get the right answer. Or maybe the EU will just decide to ignore the vote and refuse to let them go. I wouldn't put anything past Brussels.
Personally I do have an opinion. I hope for a resounding vote to leave. This is indeed a personal thing not because it will affect me personally [or I hope not] but it will inflict a major wound on the whole EU project which I despise. They are already suffering financially and from the immigration thing which is leading to a groundswell of opinion against them, and in the event of a Brexit I would hope that some other countries will get the idea and tell Brussels to fuck themselves, which could lead to am interesting domino effect.
I don't kid myself that Ireland will join the queue to leave as our gubmint [if we had one] has a propensity for arse licking and crawling cap in hand to Brussels. We always want to be on the side of the bully in the playground even if it means ignoring the wishes of the Irish people. We [apparently] pride ourselves on being the cap doffing, forelock tugging leaders of Europe, or at least that's what our gubmint tells us.
So for God's sake vote to leave, for all our sakes.
Please?
It just could be the beginning of the end.
Looking from the outside in, I have never understood the who euro blend thing.
Some of the Elite had this wet dream of creating a United States of Europe, where we all bend to the whim and control of the unelected few. It worked reasonably well in the US as the states were created when the continent was in its infancy but here we have all had our national identities ingrained for hundreds or thousands of years. Trying to equate a Dane with a Greek or an Irish with a German just doesn't work.
Absolutely correct. Attempting to create anything even remotely resembling a United States of Europe is just plain stupid. The nations in Europe have centuries of history and traditions behind them whereas the old USA is still working on it's 3rd century and hardly has any traditions at all–or too many keep up with. And ironically enough, the US is populated by people whose ancestors were kicked out of all the good countries–mostly from Europe. Chinese laundries and take out came a bit later.
It would be much better for all you folks I think if the EU would just go away. Maybe not the euro itself since having a standard currency throughout Europe is not necessarily a bad thing but that's strictly my opinion on that one.
The Euro is indeed very convenient for pricing across borders, and for the lack of need for exchanges [or exchange rates].
HOWEVER, when you compare the different economies across the continent you begin to see the problems. The Greek economy cannot be compared to the German one or even the Irish one. Bank rates are fixed across the continent which resulted in the catastrophe here in Ireland. Our economy grossly overheated because interest rates were so low [held low by Germany and France]. When the crash came it was spectacular. If we had had our own currency we could have cooled the economy by raising interest rates. In fact the Euro was the single biggest contributor to the collapse.
The Euro cannot possibly work. Even now they refuse to face up to the fact, hence the currency teetering on the edge for the last few years [the European Central Bank is running on a negative interest rate at the moment!]. It cannot work without a recognition that different countries have different economic needs.
Ah, pretty much what I thought of after I posted my previous comment (and edited it twice of course). One of those, "Wait…oh yeah…" moments as it were. It seems the euro is destined to follow the EU into the cesspit of history then?
I might vote to leave the EU. All this discussion about trade and so forth is missing the point.
It's a load of unelected Krauts/Vichy telling us what to do and taking our money. Doesn't matter if it's good or bad, it's wrong.
On the other hand I mightn't vote at all, as being told what to do and having money stolen by anyone, not just the agents of the self-destructive 4th Reich, is nearly as bad. All that would change would be the Nationality of the thug, English or German.
Then again, a Yes vote in ROI (Lisbon) made things much, much worse across the border, and the cheek of the bastards demanding a re-vote when they lost the first time.
So it's Brexit then. You won't have me helping Fritz help himself and since the Government is against it, it's probably for the best.
Be prepared though for an absolute blizzard of lies, misinformation, threats and propaganda. There again, we're all getting used to that?
“All that would change would be the Nationality of the thug, English or German.”
Indeed, Richard, but we’d at least have a chance to protest about it if they took too much, if we were out. The real problem is that MPs haven’t got anything meaningful to do – certainly not the kind of jobs that we (thought that) we elected them for; all the major decisions are now made in Brussels, leaving our MPs with time to fill. And the devil, as we all know, makes work for idle hands – hence the plethora of hair-splitting, hobby-horse-riding, and pernickety policies that our MPs currently come up with. I can do no better than to direct you to this excellent article: http://con4lib.com/brexit-is-the-key-to-reforming-the-governance-of-britain/ which explains why Brexit would inevitably lead to better politicians than the careerist types we have now. Not immediately, obviously, and, just like the pre-EU days, they certainly wouldn’t be perfect, but “cometh the hour, cometh the man” and all that – when our politicians actually have something genuinely important to do, it will become essential that they are able to do it, and the electorate will vote accordingly.
I was a fence sitter until yesterday. I got a glossy pamphlet through the post telling me what a great thing the EU was. Then I found out that I'd payed for it. So that made up my mind for me. I shall vote too leave.
The bastards.
Actually you haven't paid for it ………… yet
They had to borrow the money to print it, so that's another 9 million on the national debt.
Looking at it from the point of view of a Brit (which I am, through and through, even though I long ago despaired of the direction things were going, and bailed out while the going was good), there is no question in my mind – UK needs to get out, and the sooner the better. The EU is the kiss of death to all who fall into its clutches. "Abandon hope, all ye who enter…"
From a personal point of view, being domiciled in the southern reaches of the EU, I do wonder if and how it would affect me. My wife (who is from SE Asia) has a resident permit here based on the fact she is married to an EU citizen (and Greek resident). I own property here, and have tax numbers, bank accounts, residence permit (which I don't actually have to have, as an EU citizen, but it makes life easier, i.e. getting married here and getting a res permit for my wife) etc etc.
On the other hand, whatever the result, I doubt that residence permits will be cancelled out of hand (perhaps no new ones issued), and my wife recently renewed hers and got a 10 year permit, and mine is now a lifelong one. All that notwithstanding, I do wonder what the fallout might be, and it does slightly concern me. So I'm somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing.
Oh, but we are…
And there you have it!
I was formulating the bones of a BREXIT article myself so you've stolen my thunder. But can I add my voice to yours and plead with the British to do the intelligent thing and give the EU the two fingers.It might wake us out of our slumber here and prompt a referendum and departure too before we have no rights left.
Well said Grandad.
There is and will be a great deal of Bollocks talked on both sides of the debate. If you want a bit of well researched, genuine information and FUD debunking, do go have a rummage at Richard North's EUReferendum.com (or the associated LeaveHQ site).
Nobody in the UK seems to be arguing that the EU is a really great idea. The only "Remain" arguments seem to be what terrible things of DOOM would befall if we were to vote to Leave. Mind you, these are the same folks who were telling us about the DOOM would befall if we didn't join the Euro…
And in any case (as you rightly say) if we vote "wrongly" we'll be told to vote again until we get the correct answer.
I would very nearly [but not entirely… I'm not stupid] bet my pension that Brexit will fail. The British gubmint can't afford for it to succeed and Brussels will never allow it anyway. They will find some way of preventing it happen. I sincerely hope I'm wrong, but the EU has taught me to treat their dealings with a massive dose of cynicism.
Sadly, I agree.
We mightn't really know what will happen if we vote out, but things can only get worse if we stay. May be mistaken, but I believe loss of veto for a start – part of the deal Cameron fell for.
The Latin name for old Eire is Hibernia. If we were to quit the EU it would be called Hexit. Since the Bailout of our banks and the disgrace of Anglo-Irish Bank after the financial implosion of September 2008, the Irish economy has been in hock to the Troika. We are hexed into fantasising about Hexit.
If the EU is such a great thing then how come we have had 8 years of continuous austerity in the UK, Greece is on it's arse, Italy had it's gubmint removed and replaced by EU technoprats, Spain, Portugal & Italy's economies are on their arse too and over 25% of their youth are unemployed.
We have a German hausfrau letting all an sundry in to the EU with out consultation and she is sucking Erdogan's balls so hard she's willing to turn a blind to his corruption (3rd son buys ISIS oil) and is happy to throw the book at a poet for daring to criticise Erdogan.
I and the extended family are all voting to leave this lunatic undemocratic fourth reich run by the Germans for the Germans at the expense of all others
Ireland has twice voted no to EU treaties,and both times we were totally ignored.EU spat the dummy out and after bullying us with threats,we voted yes.Voted no four times.Whatever we think we owe the EU,we have definitely paid back with interest.The next EU newcomers, Turkey, Albania,Kosovo, really are they taking the Michael.Is it Ireland's fate to be overrun by Immigrants. All this trade nonsense does my head in as well.This four principles of free movement is ridiculous, you never open your borders to the threat of invasion a child will tell you this.Stick the EU,what has it done for us lately.Look after your own first and if you have a bit of spare change,give accordingly.
Welcome Nigel, and I couldn't agree more. The EU is a massive weight on our shoulders and frankly does very little for us apart from sticking big signs at the side of roadworks saying "this is an EU project". What those signs really mean is "we in the EU have decided to give you back a fraction of what you have paid so we can stick a sign up".
Soon or later the whole edifice will have to come crashing down. I won't shed a tear..