Thanks, I was going to do that and then forgot.

Received by email during the last 24 hours:-

I have a very generous offer for anyone who wants to stay in the EU – send me your salary every year!
Don’t worry. I am not heartless - I will slowly dribble 40% of it back to you to spend as you wish – as long as you have my written approval first.
“What do I get in return?” I hear you ask – well plenty – I’ll send you lots of rules and regulations governing just about every aspect of your life.
If you buy food, use electricity or drive a car that burn fossil fuel I'm afraid I will have to punish you severely – don’t complain, it’s for your own good, it’s called “tough love.”
Of course all of this requires a lot of work on my part, so I’ll need to slice a large piece off the top of your “contribution” to pay my salary, accommodation, expenses, perks, and to help fill my platinum plated pension pot.
Oh, and by the way, leave your house doors open at all times – I’ll decide who can enter!
I expect to be deluged with applicants – so be patient – I’ll get round to everyone…. Eventually.

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Dave

If you've signed up for it and paid, it must be a trade deal and therefore a good idea

Andy

On a somewhat more serious note, there is commentary in circulation that the ECB is conducting monetary exchange restrictions with parts of the Eurozone who are in rebellion against the central powers; it's new stuff to me and I haven't got into this much to date - it is also possible that it is France that has instituted these arrangements (apparently, it is illegal in France to criticise the French banks, so online commentators who live in France are being quite circumspect in how they discuss this matter).

The countries specifically having issues with business transfers of cash out of France are Greece, Poland and Northern Cyprus (aka Turkey).

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Dave

I will say one thing about it all, if we stay in the other countries will spank us and it won't be nice
I can't believe that they have the audacity to tell us we would be safer due to information sharing, oh really, strange that as we could not share info with some of the newer members of the eu, due to the fear that it would end up with criminals as the police in certain countries were corrupt.
As for border security, forget it, if I told you what really goes on, which I can't due to having signed something, you would have a fit...... It is really that bad and has been for a very long time...... Out of control is a reasonable description.
As for Cameron saying that we have upped security with extra police etc since belgium who is he kidding, where have all these extra officers come from??
I'll take my chances out thank you very much.............

The highest paid female politician in the world is a Labour life peer called Baroness Ashton who is an EU commissioner. The British public have mainly never heard of her, and none of us have ever voted for her, but she gets paid £400,000 a year to make up laws and sign trade agreements that impact all of us.

Respect for democracy comes very much second to the "grand vision" for Eurocrats. Their argument effectively seems to be that democracy can be suspended to get us to an USE/EUSSR where the European parliament becomes supreme over the council of leaders, and then who we elect to it will start to matter, and democracy will return. Therefore, issues that run counter to a USE/EUSSR such as free movement of labour are never up for debate or renegotiation regardless of the will of the people in the member states

The Lisbon treaty was forced through in most countries. When the Irish voted no, it was simply taken back to them for a further vote after some additional pressure. Therefore, I suspect that if the UK does vote to leave, a second reform deal and a second referendum will occur, although the in campaign are desperate to play this down and frame this as a one time leap into the unknown, much as they did with the Scottish referendum.

I am voting out for many reasons, but the 'democratic deficit' the EU creates is as good a reason as any.

It was this former junior council officer's (and now de-facto EU foreign minister) bungling diplomacy in encouraging that ethnically mixed country Ukraine to prepare to apply for EU membership that precipitated the current Russian v. West crisis that resulted in annexation of the Crimea, a low level war on their border, the deaths of all those souls on the Malaysian airlines flight and the strengthening of Russia's military position in the Middle East and necessitated an increase in NATO forces opposing Russian forces.



So much for the EU keeping us safer.

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Anyone know the truth of claims the EU will stop us taking over what TATA steel don't want? Common law would certainly allow a British government to buy or even take the steel mills as strategic assets but the idea that EU law actively prevents it seems like propaganda? I'm guessing it can be done but will take so long the steel workers will all be retired and China will rule the world by then or is it really enshrined?

Andy

Nearly all of the posturing and hectoring from the great and the good must be nearly over now with 3 weeks to go.
Just a few live interviews on TV to come; I wonder how much the audiences will believe of what the politicians and non-elected miscellany have up their sleeves.

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Dave