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EU - I'm in a quandary

(877 Posts)
Riverwalk Fri 03-Jun-16 08:39:39

I can't be the only one!

I'm minded to vote out - the main reason being the free movement of capital and labour has resulted in a very low-wage economy and zero-hours contracts (gravy train, inefficiency, lack of democracy, vested interests, etc., also play a part).

However, how can I be on the same side as Bozzer, Gove, Fox, Farage et al - I wouldn't normally give them the time of day. Apart from Gisela Stuart I can't think of any politician I'd be remotely connected to.

Surely the Big Beasts in politics, academia & sciences, unions, etc. can't all be wrong?

As I said, a quandary confused

Devorgilla Tue 21-Jun-16 12:10:55

At a risk of offending serious posters I just can't resist putting on a story I just read from Huffington post.
Woman in a hijab waiting with son for replacement bus service. Chatting to son as one does. Man beside her tells her that as she is in the UK she should speak English. Older woman in queue tells him that the woman and her son are in Wales and she is speaking Welsh. Nice one.

whitewave Tue 21-Jun-16 12:13:03

And up yours!!!!grin

dramatictessa Tue 21-Jun-16 12:19:03

obieone, do you think Qatar is a wealthy country because it is out of the EU?

JessM Tue 21-Jun-16 12:22:37

Blooming Brilliant Devorgilla which is why Mr Farage is not particularly welcome here when he feels uneasy when people don't speak English on the train. Mae Farage dim yn croeso yma achos mae dim yn lico pan pawn dim yn siarad Saesneg mewn tren.
The lessons seem to be working. smile

WilmaKnickersfit Tue 21-Jun-16 12:24:17

obieone we have 2 years to negotiate leaving the EU. It has taken over 7 years to negotiate a trade agreement with Canada. Even to trade with any EU country, we will have to prove we meet EU standards as part of any agreement. These things don't happen quickly and a decade will easily pass. Some people will make a lot of money out of negotiating all the necessary changes, but it won't be the likes of me and you. There will be no stability for at least a decade. And whilst this is happening, we will be living with a government forced to make deep cuts because our economy will be hard hit by the changes. This is the reality we are facing. We will not just bounce back in a few years.

granjura Tue 21-Jun-16 12:36:57

Obione:

' And as you say, Qatar is a wealthy country. And out of the EU.'

I am sorry, but this really takes the biscuit ... do you know the realities of foreign workers working in Qatar??? sad

daphnedill Tue 21-Jun-16 12:41:53

A few years ago, when I first started using sites like this, people who complained about the government's first round of cuts was accused of 'politics of envy'. It seems to me that some of those people who were doing the accusing have now, themselves, turned on the 'fat cats'.

Does that mean that those people were right all along when they said that the accusers would be next? It seems that the government has done a brilliant job of turning people against each other.

I expect many people have read this:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/20/brexit-fake-revolt-eu-working-class-culture-hijacked-help-elite

Ceesnan Tue 21-Jun-16 12:43:25

It's been stated time and time again that nobody knows for sure what would happen if the Leave campaign is victorious. Some people are presenting their opinions as facts, and doing so quite forcefully. In one thread someone stated that there would not be an EU army as we had a veto - what if the government decided not to use the veto? You see, pure speculation just like a lot of "facts"

daphnedill Tue 21-Jun-16 12:45:43

I don't think I've ever presented an opinion as a fact (unless it was one). What I have done is debunk a lot of myths with facts.

WilmaKnickersfit Tue 21-Jun-16 13:01:28

Ceesnan we go through life speculating. Some things are more easy to speculate about than others. Without going into detail, I know that in my circumstances I face a tough future and it will be worse if we leave the EU. I can't tell the future, but it doesn't take much speculation on my part to see how things will get worse for me, and my husband by association.

My impression is that many people have not thought enough about how their daily lives will be changed if we leave the EU. But then again I am just speculating.

Alea Tue 21-Jun-16 13:16:01

Oops GJ agreeing with you again smile
As others have pointed out "the man in the street" in many of these so-called "rich" countries, exists in living conditions which we have not seen since the earliest years of the industrial Revolution or before in the days of the Peasants' Rvolt, often in *dire poverty*with an absence of political rights and freedoms, no equality of opportunity or before the law. China is a prime example of how the poor underclass serve as a bulwark of the vaunted "prosperity" of the tiny % who may be deemed rich.
Sorry to rain on your parade obieone, but you really have no idea.

Alea Tue 21-Jun-16 13:20:00

And as you say, Qatar is a wealthy country. And out of the EU
Apart from the fact that OIL might just be a relevant factor, <whisper>You did realise that it isn't anywhere near Europe either, obieone didn't you?

Jalima Tue 21-Jun-16 14:27:34

Ah! Remain could do with H.G. Wells on their side
I think we could all do with him, but showing us the alternatives!

obieone Tue 21-Jun-16 14:40:25

I stand by everything I say.

obieone Tue 21-Jun-16 14:44:00

There is nothing I have said about Qatar that is wrong.

obieone Tue 21-Jun-16 14:57:30

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/11949038/Europes-glory-days-at-an-end-warns-Juncker.html

Said in Oct 2015

Alea Tue 21-Jun-16 15:12:22

So you have personal experience of the living conditions of the "man in the street" in China, do you? You can stand all you like by what you say, it doesn't give it any more credibility.
Have you even been to any of these countries you so glibly expound on?
I do actually read the DT and generally filter out what I read because I am fully aware of its politics, but I was ashamed today at its unequivocally biased outlook, so links from the DT have to be taken with a VERY large pinch of salt.

obieone Tue 21-Jun-16 15:31:05

As it happens Alea, I do.

Alea Tue 21-Jun-16 16:02:02

hmm

Welshwife Tue 21-Jun-16 16:03:20

When the referendum was announced the EU Parliament announced a programme for the UK to Exit should there be a leave vote. This process starts at the weekend - Cameron was told he will need to go to Brussels and give formal notification of UK withdrawing from the EU. There will then be a committee of EU members set up which will decide on the terms on which the UK will be allowed to leave. There may be a forfeit charge to pay ( not sure why that is).This committee will not have any UK representative. By the latest 25June 2018 the UK will be out no matter what parts have been agreed or not. The EU do not want a long drawn out process but wish it to be concluded as soon as possible. Only after this date will any other negotiations such as trade be allowed to start.
I have not seen any other programme announced since that time giving a different time scale - that is not to say there has not been another one but as far as I know this is the only one.

whitewave Tue 21-Jun-16 16:14:06

Want to know what will happen if we leave the EU?
Watch the Professor Dougan lecture on the constitution

Luckygirl Tue 21-Jun-16 16:19:55

Is Cameron paying you whitewave? grin

obieone Tue 21-Jun-16 16:39:38

She has put the same video link on at least 4 different threads.

As I said on another, there doesnt seem to be anything new or different on it. Unless she tells me otherwise?

whitewave Tue 21-Jun-16 16:45:09

She thinks it is so important that it ought not to be missed. Everyone agreed that the truth has been difficult to find -well listen to a lecture by a Professor of Law. That will inform your vote. Ignorance is not bliss - it will lead to disaster

Tegan Tue 21-Jun-16 17:08:41

I didn't vote for this government therefore I didn't vote for a referendum on Europe. As someone who feels quite passionate about remaining in the EU I'm extremely stressed at the idea of brexit winning. If someone had said to me a couple of years ago that the future of my life and my families would be be determined by people such as Johnson, Gove and Farage I would have laughed at the idea. It isn't funny now that it's happening. Quite frankly I feel as if I'm in a nightmare sad.