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I blame the Chinese. If they hadn't invented gunpowder, none of this would have happened. Mind you, the handcrossbow and the machine longbow might have, instead.

To be fair, that one doesn't sound too bad. Doubt he'd want the job, though - he's got more sense.

Granted, if we were designing a constitution from scratch, we probably wouldn't come up with what we have1 However, history is what it is, and the current constitutional arrangements as they've evolved over the centuries have ended up serving us quite well, all things considered. Among all the...

Well, he certainly did his duty, over many decades. RIP.

I wasn't referring just to your post, I was referring to the general tone of the entire thread, dominated as it is by remain voters banging on about how terrible life is, how most politicians of the governing party are incompetent, incapable, mentally deficient, corrupt and heaven knows what...

*sigh* Fine - whatever. I genuinely wish I'd never got involved with this thread. It's nowt but a whinger's paradise. I'll leave you all to enjoy your misery.

We'll have to agree to disagree, then.

Robin, you keep banging on about the dishonesty of others, but this statement is just plain wrong. Go check the various opinion polls taken after the referendum as to why people cast their vote to leave, and sovereignty was the reason for 49% of leave votes. As to vested interests of wealthy...

Not one that the UK government wanted, but one imposed by the political position taken by the EU. Given the stark choice between that and a hard border on the island of Ireland, which would you have chosen?

If you believe that, you'll believe anything. 'Ever closer union' has been the sole intention ever since the days of Jean Monnet and the European Coal and Steel Community. Each succeeding treaty has brought it one step closer.

I did not say those things. I think the EU may well collapse at some time, but it won't be quick. There are proposals to form an EU army. Again, this won't be quick. I have never expressed a view as to whether or not Turkey will or won't join the EU. If you're going to ascribe statements to...

I mean no offence, but I have to confess that I prefer the Robert Tombs / Niall Ferguson school of analysis. Sure, the West has problems, but when hasn't it? On balance I prefer the results of Reformation, Enlightenment, scientific and industrial revolutions, applied capitalism, democratic...

Yes, CANZUK is an idea - and it's a good one. CPTPP is driven principally by Japan, who have a very strong interest in keeping China out of it. Both of those, if they come to pass, will be treaties from which the UK could unilaterally withdraw should membership drawbacks come to outweigh...

There you go then - the EU do set the rules, albeit indirectly, at the moment. The principle of 'ever closer union' will mean increasing tax harmonisation across the EU, to the point where individual countries have no, or virtually no, ability to set or vary their own tax rates. Same with...

The countries of the EU do indeed set their own rules on VAT and tariffs, but can only do so within the stipulations of the EU directives governing the single market and customs union. When the UK was part of the EU, we had to follow those rules too. Remember the hoo-ha about 'tampon tax'? The...

Just a factual correction - before the end of the transition period, the UK negotiated reciprocal trade deals mirroring the advantages it enjoyed whilst in the EU with all the countries with which the EU had trade deals - 74 of them, from memory. Some were very small, some (Japan, for example)...

I don't think he's being dishonest, just making a point. The rules on tariffs, tax and so on within the EU are set by the EU, given their single market and customs union, not by the couriers and postal services. Whatever your point of view of the EU, it does have a history of being rather...

You didn't tell him, though, did you.

Those are turning gouges - they've got no bolsters. Edit to add - I'm not an expert on turning, but judging by the shallow bevels at the business ends, I think they were last used for either green wood turning or on a treadle-powered lathe. Might be worth posting on the 'Wood Turning' board for...

English is the new lingua Franca. They even speak a form of it in America, though not universally in parts of Wirksworth.