The EU - we are on the home straight folks!

I think deciding whether to stay or leave will go on emotion, Anya. Thanks for pointing that out.
If you are going on facts rather than emotion, you will find that difficult. We all choose our own facts.
However, I do believe what John Donne said all those centuries ago.

No idea Ana, will leave the nit picking to you, you are soooo good at it

Why has there not been more control on the migrants coming from outside the EU? This was always entirely within the remit of the UK Govt and they did nothing.
I am no fan of Cameron but those points he did negotiate on are worth more than he is being given credit for.
Why does the UK allow well skilled people to leave the country and nothing is done to stop them? In our small family we have members who have gone abroad to get better jobs as although well paid in UK the housing costs in the area of work were far too high. We also have younger members thinking of doing the same. Nothing at all is done to try and persuade them to stay - this is not to just go to the EU but to go further away.
Many of the migrants are doing jobs which we either need badly or make our lives easier and doing jobs Brits are not prepared to do. Who is going to pick and pack the crops if the hard working EU migrants are sent home? Even that will impact seriously not only on the farmers but supply chains to the shops and eventually to the shoppers.

Shouldn't there have been a 'do' at the beginning? Otherwise it's just a statement with a question mark tacked on.

What you missed Ana was the fact I asked a question ,

In which post did Jane10 express that opinion? I must have missed it...

Jane10, you support cutting back on the number of nurses we train and taking nurses from other countries ?

Since the leave bunch have been playing their - it's not racist to say we don't want immigrants card, their support has risen .

YouGov average of polls during 7 days is 45% leave and 44% stay. So it's still all to play for. BUT we know history of poll accuracy.....

I agree rosesared. We are picked one way or another. Often after an interview or some form of assessment though. We do need to know numbers in order to plan and people with specific skills are of necessity likely to be more useful contributors to the country.

I suppose 'cherry picking' really is getting the person you want ( ie the right one) and we are cherry picked from childhood onwards in any case.

Sovereignty dd wed 14.50pm
We only have part of it.

There is a difference between decisions being made a long way away, and those made locally.

A lot of Socttish people do not like people from London making decisions about them. Similarly Cornwall and Wales.

Very emotive DJ but let's keep a clear head on this one shall we?

Of course we should be able to have a say in who comes into the country. We need some migrants more than we need others, and that's a hard fact of life. Taking asylum seekers out of the equation (because they are an entirely different issue) we need to have control over the sheer numbers of people entering the country.

We cannot know how many school places and teachers we will need if this not the case. And yes, new schools to accomodate the increased numbers.

We need to know how many patients the NHS will be called upon to cater for or we cannot have sufficient GPS, hospital staff, and yes, new hospitals.

Without these statistics we simply cannot plan ahead so our basic services will continue to struggle and people, and our children, will be getting second- rate health care and education.

The London ambulance service was struggling to cope in 2014 and one of the issues was paramedics with insufficent English to communicate with patients and other medical staff. They tried to recruit 250 paramedics from Australia but the rules and regulations were such that these recruits were not able to take up the posts. The service is still in crises.

''Cherry picking' I don't think so, just getting the correct man or woman to do the job.

EU poll results

Poll station 81% leave 16% remain
Gransnet 52% leave 38% remain
Moneysavingexpert 64% leave 38% remain
John Mann labour now supporting leave
Dennis Skinner labour now supporting leave.

I find speaking of 'cherry picking ' human beings , offensive

What? From Devon to South Wales. My husband's great uncle moved from Northumberland to South Wales. Mind, his name suggested he was moving back home.

I just heard an EU broadcast on behalf of leave. A large percentage of what they promised can really only be promised by a party of government and they aren't so they are misleading yet again.

My great-grandfather was a migrant. He travelled from Devon to South Wales where there was an economic boom and plenty of job opportunities. We're a country of migrants.
I'm not convinced by those who say they want one kind of immigrant and not another.

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.

John Donne.

Am adding a link to The Wee Bleu Book - compiled by 2 SNP MEPs. Whilst directed mainly at voters in Scotland and decidedly pro REMAIN it is a useful source of information on many aspects of the EU.

www.scotlandineurope.eu/wee_bleu_book

Was that the programme in which the undecided people on a panel came out 6/4 in favour of 'remain'? I didn't see it myself but the S.O. told me about it.

The Telegraph is a paper supporting the Leave campaign. Their readers are not representative of the British public. Most would be predisposed to prefer Farage's performance, no matter how dismal and unconvincing.

Of course migrants are important to this country, but we should be able to cherry pick who we want to come and work here. The EU discriminates against the Commonwealth countries, but allows anyone from the EU which is wrong.

durhamjen. Farage v Cameron ITV debate
Telegraph poll 75% Farage only 25% Cameron ( over 60,000 people voted)

I think it will have to go online eventually JessM. I have can imagine our grandchildren will be amazed that we believed it wasn't possible. Just because there are challenges should not stop us from moving forward .

If this government has any sense they would have allowed the unions to go over to online voting while assessing how they propose to do it every step of the way. That way they could insist on a tamper proof system (as much as any system is including our current one)and on ways to ensure no one is disenfranchised, while learning about the challenges involved.