EU - in or out?

They affect my DS1 who has Autism and lives in a care environment, and DS2 who has 2 children who need a decent education, my 95 year old Mother who is in a care home, my cousins, my natural family. Ok HOLLYDAZE would you like anymore personal information, Oh wait, x lives in the uk with his partner and their 2 children too, we are friends.

Latest item from the book - I'm ploughing on!

Apparently the working time directive costs the NHS one billion pounds a year because agency staff have to be employed - it also has the effect of reducing medical skills as the hours worked do not allow trainee doctors to gain sufficient experience.

And a directive that agency staff should be employed with the same rights as permanent staff if they have worked in the organisation for 12 weeks means that employers just use them for twelve weeks then sack them and get a new agency staff member. It is quite amazing that those who set up this directive could not have foreseen this!

There are many examples of attempts to create "one-size-fits-all" legislation for the many disparate countries within the EU, and how this simply does not work - I am not surprised by that.

Your passport may still make you British felice but how do the decsions of whichever Party is in power in the UK, affect you?

I don't mind people wishing/hoping for the day that Britian can hold it's head high again; beats being ashamed of it.

I have family in the Uk and carry a British passport which still makes me British.
In a previous post someone wrote,, one day we shall be great again,,,,!!!!!!!

felice

really think is is time the Uk realises it is a little Island off the coast of the European Continent

I think you'll find it is only the political elite that labour under the delusion of Britain still being great; the majority of British people see Britain more or less as you have described it (although probably would use the word 'small' instead of 'little' - 'little' can have such a derisive effect don't you think?)

perhaps when the UK leaders stop sucking up to the USA leaders, and started thinking for themselves, and not destroying lives to keep chummed up to them.

Can't argue with that!

They don't give a monkeys for us, we are just cannon fodder.

Us? We? Do you still live in the UK?

Or do you want to stick Walter Raleigh's head back on, bring out the privateers and re-build the Empire

Oh dear, you're beginning to sound a bit hysterical now

rosequartz I'd rather the United States of Europe than USA. We ARE Europeans. And I don't know why we persist with driving on the left and keeping the £.

Oh to heck with it - let's also scrap all these different languages whilst we are having a clear out and make it a legal requirement that only Esperanto can be spoken from this day forth to make us all truly European and break down those dratted language barriers...

Short memory, Ana. You wrote about the strikes earlier, and so did lots of other people.

rosequartz I still have the relevant papers and all letters, I can read, also we had a house without mortgage to sell and no debts.

Anyway again, what has Oz etc got to do with those living in Europe, I have lived in 3 EU countries, and really think is is time the Uk realises it is a little Island off the coast of the European Continent, perhaps when the UK leaders stop sucking up to the USA leaders, and started thinking for themselves, and not destroying lives to keep chummed up to them.They don't give a monkeys for us, we are just cannon fodder.
Or do you want to stick Walter Raleigh's head back on, bring out the privateers and re-build the Empire

What has today's strike got to do with the UK being in or out of the EU?

My son was on strike today. His partner, who works in a school but is not in a union - yet - was told to go to work even though there were no kids. When she arrived, everyone was standing outside, as nobody had a key and the caretaker was on strike. So they all went home again.

Sorry, nfk, I missed you out.

rosequartz I'd rather the United States of Europe than USA. We ARE Europeans.
And I don't know why we persist with driving on the left and keeping the £.

I don't think so, rosequartz - they seem to be going for the OUT vote. It was a certain GN member who used the term on this thread...although he hasn't posted on it recently!

Grannyjilly - you are only a Little Englander if you read the Daily Mail!

Yes, the pension is pegged at the rate when you emigrated to Australia; it is not pegged in the EU.
However, this is probably better than a lot of our Australian friends who receive nothing as their income or assets are above the level to receive a state pension - despite paying in so I am told!

Felice, two-thirds of my DC live in Australia and we visit often . No matter what qualifications you have and how wonderful they may seem in the UK, if they do not require your particular discipline, area of expertise etc, they will not allow you to emigrate there ( unless you can fund yourself). 45 is the usual cut-off point, not 35.

One year working visas are allowed up to the age of 30, you can apply for another year at the end of this time if you have done a certain amount of farm work (88 days I believe) although this rule may be relaxed.
Thereafter you can apply for a permanent visa on various grounds which may or may not be granted.

I believe this is correct, if not then I will stand corrected.

Sad,that because we have a different opinion to yours that we have to be called Little Englanders..........

When we had the origial vote on entry into the Common Market as it was then, I wrote and asked advice from my brother who had lived in France for a number of years. His advice was a resounding "Yes" for very valid reasons of trade and commerce. The present day is totally far removed from those days and Brussells has taken excessive powers and Human Rights has become a absolute farce, preventing what in most peoples' mind is justice and fair play. We are being dictated to on how to live our lives which is something I very much resent. At the moment I would not think twice about voting to come out as quickly as possible. However .... I think opinions are very much a generational thing and the younger generation see opportunities beyond our shores and I think, would vote to remain in. David Cameron MUST stick to his guns and negotiate hard to revoke some of the legislation imposed on us and not waver from his determination to make us properly British again. If he was successful, I would reconsider.

It may have been that if you were in the UK, your mother would not have been accepted. My friend would have had no-one at all in this country if her second daughter had emigrated.

I thought that they should both have gone out, as the first daughter and her family had a great life, and these were the only grandchildren.

I did wonder Elegran if my brother was trying to shirk his responsibilties but as it turned out, my mother didn't want to live in Australia. She said she wants to stay in her own home in an area that she loves dearly and surrounded by the neighbours and friends that she's had for over 30 years and I can understand that. Many years ago, I asked her to come and live here but she declined that as well for the same reason. However, she now has dementia and although it is being controlled well, I do think the time will come when she has to accept that living on her own may not be in her best interests.

Hollydaze One of my friends had a daughter in Oz, and another who was thinking of emigrating there. She told me she could have joined her daughters, as she would then have had no relatives in the UK.

In the event, the second daughter decided against going.

MIL had worked 1 year in Uk she left at 18, went first to SA then to OZ.

With regard to Australia i do know a bit about the situation there as my xMil lives there and is an Australian citizen

I also know a bit about it as my brother moved there over 40 years ago on the assisted passage deal. My brother wants my my mother to go and live with him but unless she can prove a level of income that shows she won't become a drain on the Australian economy, they will not allow her to move there even if my brother vouches that he can support her (this is what he's told me) due to her age (non-employable).

Perhaps you can explain that one????

I have just googled for info and found this regarding British people with Australian citizenship:

We also left the UK in 1974, but did not become eligible for a pension until until 1995. Like ***, we also had worked in the UK for approximately 10 years. I think you will find that when you apply for your UK pension, that pension amount will be pegged at the rate it was when you left the UK. Our payments work out at £38.40 a week, averaging out at the current exchange rates, over a 3 month period, at $224.00 a month each. Hope this helps.

No wonder the pension rules in the UK have changed.

SO WE WILL STILL BE PART OF THE TTIP WHETHER WE ARE IN THE EU OR NOT. WE WILL STILL BE RULED BY THE US. UNLESS WE STOP THE EU FROM RATIFYING IT.

But these directives are coming from the EU - if the UK isn't in the EU it doesn't have to support EU decisions. This is what happens when countries sign away their rights to make their own decisions. There is little you can do about TTIP as the Greens are not big enough to make a difference.

With regard to Australia i do know a bit about the situation there as my xMil lives there and is an Australian citizen, we visited a lot and when FIL was due to retire an offer was made to us, they would gift the house they were living in,5 bedroom bungalow to us and X would take over the Singer sewing machine centre which FIL owned, it was a successful business and X had a similar business in the UK. We applied to emigrate, and were immediately turned down,me, too old at 35, X did not have a formal college qualification accepted by the Oz authorities, he is South African with british parents and a british passport, the only member of the family who would be accepted was Autistic DS1 who was studying Theology at the time. I have a very good uni degree and a diploma in Community Education, and was working in that field at the time. The business closed, 4 part-time staff losing their jobs.
XMIL worked for the local council and arranged an appeal for us, we were told the business was not a necessary one and there were no suitable jobs for me in the area.

Canada is not the land of milk and honey as friends of mine from Toronto would be very happy to tell you. Anyway you need visas etc to work in these countries, you cannot just arrive in them and get a job the way you can in the EU. The situation is completely different and cannot be compared. Oh and Xmil gets her state UK pension every month although she left the uk in 1955 and is an Australian citizen. Perhaps you can explain that one????

I would only have a vote if I owned property in the UK and was on the Electoral role, which many of the uk passport holders living in the EU are not, which as i pointed out previously is a substantial number of people.