Brexit

[Andyww]

Can anyone explain why people buy Evian water from France?

[Barrykearley]

I turn on the tap at home - it's perfect for drinking

[C8RKH]

5 hours ago, Andyww said:

Can anyone explain why people buy Evian water from France?

Nope.

I have NO IDEA at all why anyone would buy overpriced water in bottles in the UK when we have perfectly fine and adequate tap water.  I can understand if you are going on a journey of course, but not for everyday use. Just a complete waste of money. Never understood it.

[oilmagnet477]

Evian is a perfect example of why we need to leave the EU. The UK is about the only place in the EU where it is safe to drink tap water.

I remember going to France in '81 and '82 on a school exchange programme (that's 1981 and 2 before you ask!) and being a bit surprised (as a naïve country bumpkin) that you couldn't drink the water.

The only drinkable water in France is red in colour and comes out of green bottles

[Andyww]

I went on a school trip to France in 1975 and we were horrified to find the place we stayed in had hole in the ground toilets!

We spent the entire trip looking for proper toilets and whenever we found one 30 people would all rush to be first in. A palpable sense of relief every time afterwards!  

[C8RKH]

On 10/13/2017 at 19:33, Andyww said:

I went on a school trip to France in 1975 and we were horrified to find the place we stayed in had hole in the ground toilets!

We spent the entire trip looking for proper toilets and whenever we found one 30 people would all rush to be first in. A palpable sense of relief every time afterwards!  

Not sure the situation has changed to be honest.

Just bought a new crash helmet and a padded suit. Getting ready for hard Brexit and wanna make sure I survive the landing.

It is very, very obvious to me that our friends in the EU do not want to co-operate over Brexit so time to say so long and let's just keep calm and work through the consequences.  Global trade and financing is all so inter linked that we won't be allowed to fail as too many vested interests and too much overseas personal money invested the "safe" and "benign" UK.

1st November, let's just declare we are out. No deal. Nadder. Bye bye. See you later amigo's. Adios. Auf wiedersehn.....

Leave them a business card with our number on it in case they wanna negotiate seriously in the future.  

[pete]

whilst agreeing with most of what you say i think it only the northern EU countries that are digging their heels in, i am sur the southern EU countries don`t yet realise what is going on and how it is likely to affect them more when we finally leave

[C8RKH]

You mean they are still enjoying their siestas and nett subsidies and the realisation that the tap is about to significantly slow its flow has not yet hit them?

I've honestly have had enough of the politicians on both sides now. Let's just get going and deal with it.

Buy british food from British farmers and just carry on.

The NZ'ers are wading in and stirring shit but can someone tell me on what level of common sense it is that we transport Lamb half way round the world when Wales is full of lambs and butter too when our diary farmers are strugglibg to sell all their milk at a decent cost? We don't need it so let's just stop it.

The Italians can shove their Prosecco where the sun don't shine. The French their crap cheese and stoopidly expensive bottled water and the Spanish their fishing rights off the UK.

Sorry. I don't really mean it. I love most Europeans. Just totally sick to death of the Eurocrats in their castles and palaces. And totally sick of paying for their pampered, exhorbitant, lavish lifestyles. They should be serving the people not lining their own self interested pockets and huge bellies. The Kinnocks as a case in point anyone? How much have they earned from the EU gravy train? Always find a good true socialist with their snout right in the trough

 

 

[C8RKH]

So it seems the truth is coming out now and the Government and team have not been doing a bad job negotiating - not a great job, but not a bad job either. The truth we can now see is that EU wants to hit us with a large "tax", or "fee" for leaving. It is all about the money. That is now blindingly clear.  Quell surprise anyone really?

 

[Chillidoggy]

Everything  is always about the money!

From what I hear, Merkel has stepped up to the plate and told the EU mandarins what’s going to happen. She at least appears to have distanced herself from all the chest-banging from the likes of Barnier, Juncker, and Tusk, and that without an agreement, her economy will suffer.

[PaulCP]

Thank god Corbyn is not involved in our negotiations. His inference in how he criticises the "lack of progress" is that he would just give in to the EUs demands just to be able to move forward.

As for the rest of the EU 27, of course they are going to "stone wall" They live in fear of losing their hand outs and take the easy option of pushing the negotiators. Too many cooks and all that!

[Chillidoggy]

"Too many cooks and all that!"

And therein lies a large part of the problem.

[Barrykearley]

17 hours ago, PaulCP said:

 They live in fear of losing their hand outs and take the easy option of pushing the negotiators. Too many crooks and all that!

Ftfy 

[C8RKH]

Can't help but think that after Starmer and the Labour Parties input this morning that they will scupper Brexit as a way of being able to say, see, the Tories ruined it for you!

I'm also a little hissed off that now that we have had Merkel signal that the trade negotiations should start in December we're still getting the British Bullshit Company harping on about lack of progress and no deal.  I can understand it with the papers as they had deadlines to get to print, but the BBC should be right up there in terms of speed and accuracy.

I think it is obvious to anyone with half a brain that the EU has been stalling on trade and generally everything as they are focused on extracting the maximum in cash from us. They don't give a fook about the other stuff, it is the money first.  Think back to when this started and Labour's stance was to just pay up. We'd be looking at around £120bn right now with Labour, whereas the government has just stood firm (through either incompetence or great planning - hard to tell which really) and we are currently looking at £20bn, likely to be £40bn with a trade deal.

I do think May and the government is right to not to commit to a final settlement figure until we know what the trade agreement will be. After all, we do need to be able to trade to raise the cash to pay for the settlement. I sometimes think that all those complaining re negotiations have never actually done any negotiating at all themselves for anything larger than a used dining chair at a local car boot sale.

[Barrykearley]

How much for the chairs ??

[C8RKH]

£60 each to you Barry.  Only one careful owner. Never taken out doors in the rain and full history.

No woodworm either. Those holes are to reduce weight. Light is right after all.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry @Barrykearley. Those chairs are now sold. A very nice chap called Keir and his grandad, Jeremy I think it was, just offered me a £1k for the pair.  Well, it would have been rude to say no.

Off to the pub for champers and oysters. Feel like an MEP now.....

[Barrykearley]

That's a funny coincidence - the BBC have just bought a pair from a guy with a beard for £50k. They are to be used outside the big wigs office to help with the sexual harassment enquiries 

[Chillidoggy]

1 hour ago, C8RKH said:

£60 each to you Barry.  Only one careful owner. Never taken out doors in the rain and full history.

No woodworm either. Those holes are to reduce weight. Light is right after all.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry @Barrykearley. Those chairs are now sold. A very nice chap called Keir and his grandad, Jeremy I think it was, just offered me a £1k for the pair.  Well, it would have been rude to say no.

Off to the pub for champers and oysters. Feel like an MEP now.....

£1K? Where on earth did they get that kind of dosh from? Have they got a money tree, or something?

[Andyww]

I still dont understand why we should have to pay anything. This demand came out of nowhere, otherwise the remain camp and the EU itself would have mentioned it before the referendum as an anti-leave warning. They are probably privately amazed we are agreeing to pay. No other country would.

[C8RKH]

I do see why we should pay for the stuff we committed to in the current budget which runs for a couple of years. Spending decisions would have been made based on the agreement for the term. I don't think that is unreasonable or hard to understand. And we should continue to get any benefits due to us under that budget at the same time. Again, that is perfectly reasonable.

As for the pensions though, let's just close the pension fund and tell the pension holders sorry, that is all you are going to get. After all, politicians seem to be happy enough for that response to be valid for steelworkers, retail workers and the like.

Oh, silly me. A public sector pension is for life, fully gilt edged and comes wrapped in gold every month. What a stoopid hooker, how could I have forgotten that.

[pete]

looks to me like she has made an offer behind closed doors to Merkel and Macron which won```t be revealed until it is too late

[Barrykearley]

I've got some spare steam of my p@ss - they'd have to pay for it though

[PaulCP]

2 hours ago, C8RKH said:

 

Oh, silly me. A public sector pension is for life, fully gilt edged and comes wrapped in gold every month. What a stoopid hooker, how could I have forgotten that.

Slightly off topic but I still maintain that, every year when we receive our council tax demand, as part of the analysis of spend, all councils should be compelled to highlight how much they have spent on pension contributions, what % of total spend it represents and what the normal retirement age of their scheme is.

Its time politicians and public workers were brought into the real world of company pensions.

[johnpwalsh]

On 13/10/2017 at 12:42, Barrykearley said:

I turn on the tap at home - it's perfect for drinking

Tap water in UK is proven t be cleaner than bottled with Perrier being the worst.

[C8RKH]

UK tap water is some of the very best for cleanliness and health, in the world (you can only say that last bit in a Clarkson esque voice to get the true effect!).

I'll buy a bottle of water if out and about - but usually it is the cheapest I can buy.  There are a load of people who buy "SmartWater", my looney daughter being one of them.  This is where it gets silly, as per the below explanation of what smart water is:

• SmartWater is “vapor distilled” water. From what I can understand, pretty much all water is vapor distilled, meaning it originally came from clouds.
• According to their website, most SmartWater is procured from “municipal water systems.” Read, “tap water.”
• Then the SmartWater goes through Glaceau’s proprietary filtration process, that removes just about everything from the water except two H’s and an O.
• SmartWater then adds back in the electrolytes calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium bicarbonate “for taste.” I think the “for taste” part is important because the nutrition label still reads 0 mg of sodium, and the amounts of electrolytes added have essentially zero “gatorade-effect”. In fact, the amount of electrolytes found in SmartWater is less than in other brands of “non-electrolyte-added” bottled waters. Two independent taste-testers (Bryn and I) could not taste any difference between SmartWater and Brita-filtered tap water.
• They write in all lower case letters, which definitely seems trendy even if not necessarily “smart.”

I think that sort of sums up the fact that you are just getting royally ripped off and funded by  branding. Oh and just on the branding part, Smart Water is a brand of Glaceau which itself is owned by one of the biggest and best marketed brands in the world - Coca Cola.

Go figure......