Here is a nice long post for Urmstongran, Moggie and GG13 I hope it is not too long to read right through - I do try to make my posts lively enough not to bore the pants off you.
UGG "we all have a stake in this country of ours."^ That is agreed by all. No-one is deliberately trying to wreck the economy and make us all into a third world country reliant on the generosity of the rich nations to send us parcels of used clothes. But I would argue that this is a bad time to launch ourselves into a shark-infested ocean of other countries competing savagely for trade.
Helping in Africa. We need to influence the EU and their policies from within, as a part of their decision-making processes, not distance ourselves from it. One way to do that is not to elect as one of our representatives a *%@£ like Farage, who stayed away from meetings instead of getting stuck in there for the UK.
GG13 ^"how the flip are we the people meant to assimilate it all?"^ By ignoring the ranting of certain newspapers and listening to those experts who have quietly been assimilating FACTS all their working lives, who can project trends forwards and see ahead logically to the results of decisions made in high emotion. Read ones who also have the ability to explain complicated situations in ways that "we the people" can grasp, and then PAY ATTENTION, as teacher was always saying, while you read.
Moggie ^"not allowed to fish in our own waters...."^ That was to conserve the fish stocks and to leave some fish for others - and there were other nations who were not allowed to use resources to the exclusion of others.
^"why should we bow to germany and the rest of europe.? am fed up with all these european laws. all this health and safety c**p came from europe"^ We don't bow to them any more than people in the north bow to people in the south, or people from Southend bow to people from Bristol. There are representatives from ALL EU countries in the bodies that make decisions, as there are MPs in Westminster from all the towns and counties in the UK. They decide things that the EU does as a whole, in trading etc, and they make recommendations to each country on social issues, environment and so on, who then debate it themselves and pass the laws!
^" it was europe that changed our weights and measure to kg and grams .metre's. what was wrong with pounds and ounces /inches and feet. "^ No it wasn't, it was our parliament, who believed that it would be better to use the same measurements as everyone else in Europe.