Rather pay than give in

Well that's a classic cut your nose to spite your face!

I’ve wondered on and off for a few years what this famous “freedom” actually is for the average citizen ?

Parky if all you think we have to worry about is how our wine and cheese parties are going to be affected, you're going to get a bit of a surprise.
I'm rather hoping this is a joke thread.

Parky

Personally I would rather UK left EU without a deal than give up our freedom. We can avoid buying French food and wine, on the wholecwe drink new world wines anyway.
British cheeses are just as good.

As for travel, we all managed before freedom of movement and can easily go back.

The thought of caving into europe and their desire to annexe uk fills me with horror

I was under the impression that the majority of the British public voted to annex ourselves from Europe - they haven't thrown us out, it's us that wanted to leave, or am I missing something here?

Yes. Odd thread really. We were just reminiscing yesterday about the time when you could only take £50 abroad. Anyone else remember that?

Jane10

Yes. Odd thread really. We were just reminiscing yesterday about the time when you could only take £50 abroad. Anyone else remember that?

Yes, I remember that very well. We used to have camping holidays in France when that was around.

Think your missing my badly phrased post. What i was trying to say is that the EU still want to keep uk tied to their laws and have access to uk fishing waters. Giving in to eu courts being above our courts is unacceptable.

Yes I do remember £50 limit. More than enough for me in those days.

Better no deal than bad one.

I cannot believe there are people in the country that actually believe this rubbish the OP has written. Fills me with horror too!

Parky, I do hope you won't be needing any medication, which is manufactured in Europe. You will certainly miss that. ?

I'm certainly concerned about that, as much of mine comes from Europe.
Last year one of my RA drugs was unavailable anywhere in the UK. My consultant told me that patients were stocking up when on holiday in Spain.

Your post wasn't badly phrased - it was very clear what you meant.

It is a bizarre thread, but amusant because I have just spent all yesterday sourcing French foods for Noël as we can't go over to buy them this year. Having to pay a lot more than usual for French pastis, cidre, chocolate powder, salad dressings, etc. as British alternatives just don't cut the moutarde.

Parkycould let us know exactly what 'freedom' UK will be get by being in the cold outside?

As our country has an unelected Head of State, and a totally unelected High House of Parliament, I really do wonder at those who talk about unelected EU ( where we did actually go to the polls regularly to ELECT our representatives there,

The EU has been likened to a club, and now that one member has decided (without any good reason, and most of those based on total lies) to leave. But that leaving member still wants to keep so many of the membership facilities and feels they are should have access to all the benefits of that club still.

We will all live to so regret this decision (by the way, there is very real evidence to show that this is a long way now of being 'the wishes of the nation' with far more people opposed to leaving than staying). It is a lot more than wine and cheese, and will lead to far higher food prices (even shortages in fresh food), job losses and damage to much protection for workers.

Would it not have been better to have stayed as we were ?

We already gave up our freedom when we joined the EU many years ago. Now we are trying to reclaim it by leaving the EU as voted for 4 years ago. What freedom we get remains to be seen.

You are brave Parky ! Your sentiments won’t go down well on here I fear!

Although I hope a deal can be reached I agree that the no deal option is preferable to being tied too closely to the EU.

I can’t believe how differing views are treated with such vitriol.

The majority of Scotland did not vote to leave Europe. While everyone is entitled to their point of view, it really should be an informed one and not just reading what some of the tabloids say.

Parky you clearly know nothing about Europe and the EU. We were part of a group who together made decisions that were of advantage to all and every other country complains as much as the British if anything goes against them.

Each country still has its own sovereignty and its own distinctive national characteristics. For the last 30 years we have had a second home in France and revel in the differences, from how they wire their houses, to the different food in the shops and their sheer efficiency in so many things compared with the UK.

What is more, since we voted for Brexit, an Act of Parliaament has been passed incorporating most of the EU legislation we signed up to, into British law, so we will be staying with much of the legislation we agreed to. Mainly because it was legislation we would have initiated in the UK anyway.

You may be younger. I was born during WW2. The EU comes directly from the desire for peace and unity after 3 pan-European wars in 75 years (Franco-Prussian War 1870, WW1 and WW". In the 75 years since 1975 there have been no such wars. The EU brought us peace and unity. I want that to stay.

Greed and selfishness have never been good advisors and they are certainly not going to be now.

Not vitriol LadyGracie, cold hard facts. I've ranted about this before on GN but I'm going to have another go, as it makes me so angry.

DH's small business has contracts all over the world, and the contracts are all based on agreements we hold with these third-party countries as part of our EU membership. The inability of our government to get any kind of deal means that we don't know what the situation will be after 1st January. Worst case we go to WTO rules and that would include DH paying tax twice over, once in the third party country and once here. He may not be able to fulfil all the contracts as they depend on our IP agreements with the third party countries and that may not be part of any deal. But of course we can't plan for any of this because we don't know what the deal will be yet. If any.

We are one tiny company in the whole country, but Brexit is affecting us hugely. A great many people think its all about cheese and wine and fishing, because they have no idea how much EU membership is intertwined in their lives.

But you know, blue passports, freedom.....

EllanVannin

Would it not have been better to have stayed as we were ?

Oh yes.

We seem to be making some good trade agreements all by ourselves. The EU countries are not all happy bunnies. Possibly too many countries have been let in before they were ready. I can see the whole thing falling apart.

You're mistaken there 25Avalon.

The EU is just fine, potentially one good thing about this Brexit disaster is that the other countries of the EU have realised how much stronger they are together than apart. And that its possible to have disagreements within the context of the Union without throwing your toys out of the pram and flouncing off. Except perhaps countries with strongmen leaders who would rather be big fish in small ponds, and are trying to prove to their electorates how "strong" they are.

BTW - we already had trade agreements. We're negotiating about something we already had

Ellianne

It is a bizarre thread, but amusant because I have just spent all yesterday sourcing French foods for Noël as we can't go over to buy them this year. Having to pay a lot more than usual for French pastis, cidre, chocolate powder, salad dressings, etc. as British alternatives just don't cut the moutarde.

Then Noel will have to learn to do without them ( joke)??