What can TM be thinking of?

How bitter you are suzied - do calm down...

Totally suzied. Now the truth of the negotiations is beginning to come home I am sure we are going to here more childish insults to logic I'm afraid.

ut of a population of 314 million, durhamjen? Whoopee...

Oh dear, if you could hear yourself GGMk2!

English has not lost its importance as a world language but it is no longer as important as it was
Not sure about that MargaretX because English is the global language of business, of science and no amount of saying by Juncker that it is losing importance will make it true although it is true that Germany is trying to promote the learning of German overseas

It is estimated that over 1 billion people are currently learning English world wide. These numbers are driven by adult speakers around the world who use English to communicate in the workplace.

That is no reason for the British not to learn a foreign language, however!
Mandarin and possibly Spanish should be more widely taught in British schools imo.

I did say Juncker may have a value point re speaking English!

The point is he clearly chose to mock the UK. He could have simply spoke in French from the outset but that was not his intention. Having watched the recording of him speaking throughout the day on t.v news stations it was as clear as the nose on your face he knew what he was doing and he enjoyed the cheers from the audience.

What he was doing and has been doing for a while is use his position as President of the EU Commission to belittle the UK when he can.
--

www.politico.eu/article/brexit-will-never-be-a-
success-junckers-top-aide/

" Commission president Juncker will not spend more than 30 minutes a week dealing with Brexit, added Selmayr."
----

Juncker is winding up Theresa May but as I said earlier every time he opens his mouth he gives Theresa May more votes.

Exactly POGS in any case, have always thought the man is a puffed up idiot.

English is the business language of the world......French,.....less so!

have always thought the man is a puffed up idiot.
I could add the words 'allegedly drunken' to that rosesarered

French is supposedly the language of romance .....
Juncker - non, non, non
Hollande - absolument NON
Macron - peut-être

He might consider that English is also the principal language of Scotland which might want to join the EU independently. Does Ireland do EU business in Gaelic? More likely in English.

Juncker actually said that English was becoming less important as a language in the EU. He was right.

May and the media certainly know that creating a common bogeyman is supposed to unite people. She threw down the gauntlet and shouldn't be surprised at the reaction.

I guess we're all supposed to believe that she's a strong and stable person and a bloody difficult woman, who can stand up for us all. (sigh)

Gaelic is the officially registered language of Ireland for the EU.

A completely different slant on Juncker's speech. From The Times of India

m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/brexit-a-tragedy-and-eu-partly-to-blame-jean-claude-juncker/amp_articleshow/58534109.cms

The only comment that could have been interpreted as a barb at Britain came at the start of his speech, when he briefly spoke in English to say it would be delivered in French.

"Slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe," he said with a rueful smile, before explaining: "The French will have elections on Sunday and I would like them to understand what I am saying about Europe and about nations."

Suggest people read the whole article before commenting

I read the whole article Maizie but I don't feel more enlightened. He could just as easily said that slowly but surely the English are losing importance in the EU as both the UK and England are - of their own choosing.

He did admit that the Commission has gone too far at times but for us, so what! We have decided to leave and leave we will whatever it does to our own cohesiveness and economy as it is, by a whisker, the will of the majority.

May and the media certainly know that creating a common bogeyman is supposed to unite people. She threw down the gauntlet and shouldn't be surprised at the reaction.

How true Daphne. This will be the Referendum Election and I have no doubt that around half will vote for May and her messianic conversion to leave and around half will not. That has been the vote in the referendum and in the council elections but it will sweep her to a massive majority.

What will happen then - the day after, the week after, five years after. Parliament will be excluded from the negotiations and we will get a Tory leave agreement which will be the hard one May has been aiming at. But also, quietly at first, they will dismantle the NHS, run down education even more, allow housing where it makes money for those already rich but appalling conditions for those with little, and take more from benefits and give more to those who live on capital.

In five years time, the ordinary person who voted for her will be feeling much like the poorest and least able do now. The numbers in poverty will have grown, the pensions will not be worth as much, the disabled and ill will be less able to get what they need from the NHS - OK if you can afford private health as more and more are - pretty awful if you need help with care. Our children and grandchildren will fight for the few 'good' places in education and the majority will loose - there will just not be enough places. Their future will be decided on where they go to secondary school just as it was in the past. At the end of the five years, probably in the last year, money will appear to be being poured into the very things they have devastated and some will still really believe this is because the Cons have given us a stronger economy - not that their intention is that the less well off, those who start out without capital behind them, who will by then be many of our sons, daughters and grandchildren, should be left to struggle while the so called economy is just what affects the rich, gives them a better life and allows them to store up their gold rather than invest it.

... and they will do all this under the guise of a large mandate given to them by those who want to leave the EU - something we are going to do anyway.

and you bought your crystal ball where?

It doesn't need a crystal ball sunseeker just a careful look at what has happened since the conservatives came to power, listening to the true voice of conservatism (which believes in a low tax economy-think William Rees Mog) and knowledge of the mess our education and health systems were in after the last bout of Tory management.

It's comments like that that make me want to tell people to go and play elsewhere, sunseeker.

GGMK2 is predicting the future based on past (and present) Tory policies and behaviour. They are the party of the well off, and have always prioritised those people's needs over the needs of the less well off. They're not likely to change, especially if they gain a landslide victory in June.

sunseeker You took the words out of my mouth! What a pessimistic outlook held by some.

Pessimistic for some? Realistic for lots.

Thanks Bobbysgirl - now to further inflame some (and be told to go play elsewhere!) - I hear the Tories are going to bring back Droit de seigneur, allow the "wealthy" to drive onto council estates and kidnap women and children, bring back hanging and the stocks, lock up anyone of a different colour or non Christian...I could go on but I am getting bored now.

What's the optimistic outlook? We will all be living in a shangri la British only tax haven, grammar schools for all, all pulling together and worshipping la presidente but no foreign words allowed obv.

Good reaction sunseeker!

I think that outlook is actually quite mild as to what could possibly happen - towards the end of the five years the effects of Brexit will have started to bite and things could be far far worse on the employment front etc.