EU wants us to pay 89 BILLION divorce charges.

As an addendum to my post of 11.26 I would say, as someone who has spent years involved in campaigning as part of a minority for a small, but significant change in the way children are educated, a change opposed by many 'experts' in one section of education, that sometimes a minority view can be absolutely correct. But I have only come to that conclusion by a) actually doing it and b) studying decades worth of research by a very wide range of experts associated with that field.

As responsible citizens, if we have no in depth knowledge of a field it is up to us to closely examine the views of the experts in that field. if we're not prepared to do that then we should respect their superior knowledge. And not those views as mediated by the press, which has a superficial interest in them and frequently misreports them, but the actual views of the experts themselves.

Blanket dismissing of the opinions of 'experts' without listening to what they have to say seems to me to be highly irresponsible. As is dismissing their expertise.

Brussels are playing Mrs May like a pin ball machine.

Seems ironic that the people who shout the loudest that the referendum must be honoured are the same ones who are calling for us to dishonour our commitments made before the referendum.

Please not more votes when I retired 3 years ago I applied to work at the local elections I thought one day a year how hard can it be. Since then we have had Scottish referendum EU vote and general election as well as local elections I have worked more than I had planned I'm looking forward to a few months rest lol

As a Remainer, I see this as further evidence to remain in the EU.
One thing I don't understand is the antipathy towards a second referendum: if it truly is The Will Of The People, as I'm sick if hearing, then the country will still vote to leave. If it's not... better to find out before we cast ourselves adrift.

Who decides who is an expert and who isn't?

Well, it's generally considered that an expert is anyone who has studied a topic in depth for years (like university academics in law, economics etc., at professorial level), or who has many years experience in doing the thing they're talking about (like trade agreement negotiators and diplomats), or who have been running businesses or represent the collective voice of 'business (like the CBI, the NUF, the Civil Aviation Authority), or Port authorities, border control personnel, and others who have years of study/experience in topics we might not even have thought of as being associated with Brexit problems.

Also, there are people like the Norths, staunch Leavers for decades, who absolutely see the problems with the current 'negotiations' and direction of travel and who are completely aghast at how badly it is likely to be; based on their studies over the years.

On the other hand, we have our very own Gransnet expert, Petra who is ace at seeing solutions and perhaps could give us her own solutions to the problems of, say, how to solve the Northern Ireland border question without violating the Good Friday Agreement and plunging NI back into civil war...

As a Remainer I am still reeling from the head-in-the-sand attitude demonstrated by all those who voted for Brexit because at that time nobody could have accurately predicted the financial repercussions of a divorce from the EU taking into account all the economic fallout - the only true prediction was that life would become more expensive and hence more difficult. Now we are seeing Theresa May literally begging on her knees to get some sort of deal and it is becoming apparent to all those who mistakenly believed that Britain was still an imperial power to whom the rest of the world would bow down that Britain was and is in fact a very junior partner in the EU and as we have chosen to leave it we cannot expect the Union to give us special dispensation. A No Deal Brexit will have everyone on this site complaining about increased weekly shopping baskets that they can’t afford - after all we have limited income don’t we as pensioners and retirees - my shopping basket has risen by 25% since the Brexit vote and that’s just the beginning.

Let’s just pay what we owe (as have agreed to already) - probably, if you read up, about £60 billion and then we’ll get on with leaving and deal with more important things such as the Northern Ireland border.
Some of us just want Britain to pay up, shut up and get on with it.
Personally I’m sick of this now. Have already lost part of my family because of it - my oldest daughter and family have moved themselves, their family and their business abroad already. Their closest 2 friends have also moved away - one family to France, one to Australia.
I don’t think the billions are such an issue. We will probably lose more in the long run if we have no deal.

I hope the Remainers. If it is overturned tell how our lives are going to be better because for the last 20 years it has been going down hill with most people getting poorer and how we can get a government with a vision for all of us and not just working for the EU and hiding behind it!

The UK decided to leave. The EU get to keep the house and the ring. Basically, the consequences weren't thought through and we still want a great deal. It isn't fair... i'm as much to blame for this decision as anyone...but we have no cards. I don't like it but that's just how it is.

Why would they give us a good deal when they dont have to?
They have no reason. .We import more food than most other EU countries..we have very few bargaining chips.

I know several business people who have now u-turned how they feel about Brexit as the prices of their imports are going up. It's sad but we made our bed. Even butter is going up.

"Europe-wide public support for the European Union has hit its highest level in a decade, according to a new poll, with opinion making a clear jump since last year’s vote by Britain to leave the bloc."

I watched a programme recently showing how easy it is for any poll to return the results that the organisation commissioning it wanted, just by the way the questions were phrased.

I read the results of every poll with an enormous pinch of salt.

Oh and on the subject of the oft quoted "experts" - what exactly qualifies them to be "experts". Who decides who is an expert and who isn't?

Maddy, just experts in finance, economics, law, farming, fisheries, education, imports and exports, nothing important really.

Europe-wide public support for the European Union has hit its highest level in a decade, according to a new poll, with opinion making a clear jump since last year’s vote by Britain to leave the bloc.

About 57 per cent of EU citizens now feel that membership is good for their country, up 4 per cent since last year. And 60 per cent say their country has benefited from EU membership. It confirms the trend seen in other polls in the wake of the Brexit vote that show Europeans rallying around the EU.

The so-called Parlemeter poll’s organisers – who interviewed 27,881 people in all 28 EU countries – said the current deadlock in the Brexit talks affected opinion, with the rest of Europe seeing how messy it has been for the UK.

The survey shows British public opinion is close to that of the European average, with 55 per cent of those polled saying that EU membership has benefited the country.

This was reported in the "i" , but probably not in the DM , Sun or DE!

But durhamjen, what are the experts, expert in?

They all want us to stay, and want to stay themselves.

This was last year. It has changed in favour of more wanting to stay since then.

I am a remainer as was all my family sadly this outcome is exactly as I had predicted I hope that the rest I said will happen won't ?

Experts in what?

Other countries are being sensible and not considering leaving any more, because they see what a mess we are in.
Do you only read the bits you want to, Rosina?

Is it right to rob a Sick Man then I wonder.

It seemed likely from the outset that the EU would make things as expensive and nasty as possible - there are several other countries considering leaving I read. It's the equivalent of a public execution - 'Let that be a lesson to all of you watching!'

Yes - walk away Mrs.May - the price is too high.

Experts have always said we should vote remain.
For some reason Brexiteers think we should trust Gove and Johnson rather than experts.

There is no progress because black mail is being used.

Ms Merkl possibly has in mind revenge for us winning the war. I love the way ‘experts’ are flooding out of every corner now to say why we should have voted remain. Hindsight is SO wonderful.

How many of us know the truth about anything, we are all only fed what they want us to know. Lies, U turns etc do we expect anything else from politicians......