No Fault Evictions

[TRITON]

But you need to go and get a degree in influencing first !

Or have a large set of jugs

And we're not talking the Toby variety.

 

[Scruples]

Bias? The Guardian is very middle of the road. Campaigned fiercely against Corbyn for instance. Has supported Israel very loyally until just recently when even J Freedland has started to have doubts about genocide.
Also it's the only mainstream paper not owned by mega-rich tax-dodging non-doms with an agenda of their own.
For bias look first at the Telegraph, Sun, D Mail etc.

Brexit was a disaster, no good will come of it even in the distant future currently forecast by the few remaining supporters, and the EU will go from strength to strength.

That, again, is just an optiion, Jacob, based on what newspaper suits your views. I have better hopes for the future and I see my shares doing well again which has some bearing on my optimisim.

 

[Scruples]

It's even more lacking now we are out!
No direct influence at all, no seat at the table.
They need us, we need them.

They do need us or, more precisely our financial contributions. The EU wants control to be from the mainland only. The UK would always have been a welcome income.

 

[Scruples]

Right now the EU is in turmoil and set to get even worse especially with regard their disastrous migration policies so I think being outside of the EU right now is the best place.
The problem is that we don't have politicians with enough guts to stand up to the mandarins of the EU and fight our corner which is what was lacking during the negotiations.

Anyone listening to the Remain supporters would think that the UK is some third rate country when in fact if the UK restricted EU access to our markets many of their industries would go into recession.
The vast majority of politicians of this country couldn't be trusted run a bath as I've said many times...if we had someone with decent leadership qualities then things could be very different.
If people are happy for the UK to gravitate to being a satellite state in a federal Europe which is the EU's ultimate goal with governance from Brussels or wherever then by all means rejoin the EU, otherwise grow some whatsits and go it alone.

I often wonder what the UK would be like today if the pandemic, and the recession, hadn't happened. Would we have managed to strike more and better trade deals? Would EU have gotten over its bitterness and looked at more trade deals? Personally, I don't think the EU has recovered enough from the last 5 years, or the UK choice (remember that - choice) to start any normalisation of trade, although their members states would like it to happen.

 

[MikeJhn]

If I remember correctly the UK voted to join a Common Market not a European Union it changed without a referendum.

 

[niall Y]

An alternative view is that the UK (like the US) is simply a nation in decline, on a trajectory that started at least 70 years ago, and that no matter what policies fiddling with this or that, power and wealth is moving elsewhere in the world anyway.

On that basis, it looks like we're going to have to put up without winter fuel allowances, with ever-increasing potholes in our roads, poor housing, with infrastructure that doesn't work properly, with huge waiting lists on the NHS, and so on.

To my mind, it just comes down to mitigating the effects of decline, and a good start would be to recognise the state we're in and stop making ridiculous mistakes like brexit, which are based largely on nostalgia and national pride and take little account of our reality.

Very pessimistic, I know.

Managed Decline.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

and a good start would be to recognise the state we're in and stop making ridiculous mistakes like brexit ...

In 1990 the EU of 12 states made up 26.5pc of world GDP. Today the EU of 27 states makes up 16.1pc, while the US is still at 26pc. We were a big weight in the world but that is no longer the case. Giorgia Meloni.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

the EU will go from strength to strength.

In 1990 the EU of 12 states made up 26.5pc of world GDP. Today the EU of 27 states makes up 16.1pc, while the US is still at 26pc. We were a big weight in the world but that is no longer the case. Georgia Meloni.

 

[woodieallen]

Would we have managed to strike more ?

Most definitely

 

[Jacob]

...... The EU wants control to be from the mainland only.

.....and we gave it to them by leaving!
We should have hung on in and exerted a bit of control ourselves.
Funny how brexiters can't see what's in front of their noses.

The UK would always have been a welcome income.

But we would also have had power, influence and benefits.

 

[AJB Temple]

Regarding newspapers. I routinely peruse FT, Times, Telegraph, Guardian and DM on line (the latter mainly for pictures of kate Beckinsale ). I am inclined to agree that the Guardian, as Jacob says, is middle of the road. It obviously has a few rabid left wing writers but all papers have outliers. The Telegraph used to be a quality broadsheet but is now heading firmly in the direction of the Daily Mail and has a lot of click bait articles. Great shame. FT does what it does. The Times I would not bother with if I did not get it through work, as I am not a Murdoch fan and he is an owner who interferes either directly or via his son. Crossword is much better than the Telegraph and Guardian crosswords are good too. It will be interesting to see what happens to The Spectator now that Paul Marshall has bought it. He's a well known interferer. Andrew Neil immediately had a hissy fit and chucked his toys out of the pram. No loss as he is past his sell by date now. Even the very old Jewish Chronicle is in trouble for apparently publishing fiction. Who would have thought that the press could ever make stuff up?

 

[AJB Temple]

.....and we gave it to them by leaving!
We should have hung on in and exerted a bit of control ourselves.
Funny how brexiters can't see what's in front of their noses.

But we would also have had power, influence and benefits.

And a receptive market for our exports! And no pointless red tape as punishment for leaving.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

In 43 years we had little influence in the EEC/EU. Why presume things would change? Had we voted to remain we'd have been in the Eurozone and Schengen within a year or two - they would have taken it as a green light.

 

[Chris152]

Economists warning on worsening effects of Brexit- your comments please all you pro Brexiteers?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd988p00z1no

I listened to that on R4 this morning. Not good at all. I seem to remember people on here saying the economics didn't matter, it was the principle of (an imaginary) autonomy. Now we're paying for their rather strange priorities.

 

[Spectric]

We are just not looking further than our noses, the future is in the eastern markets and economies not the west so rather than wishing we could wallow around in the mess along with the EU as there problems intensify we should be making more opportunities much further afield.

 

[Chris152]

We are just not looking further than our noses, the future is in the eastern markets and economies not the west so rather than wishing we could wallow around in the mess along with the EU as there problems intensify we should be making more opportunities much further afield.

Like becoming a sweat shop for the far east etc?

 

[Jacob]

We are just not looking further than our noses,

I agree, and undoing the damage of brexit should be top of the agenda

the future is in the eastern markets and economies not the west

EU is nearest, a huge market, freedom of movement a benefit, likely to be less problematic than the east, strong links already in place, cultural, historical etc .
It also saved the union of the UK particularly in terms of Ireland, but also with Scotland and Wales having less need to think of self government, under the larger aegis of the EU.
Brexit was historically one of the UKs most pointless political decisions ever made.

so rather than wishing we could wallow around in the mess along with the EU as there problems intensify we should be making more opportunities much further afield.

We are a major player and should be in EU helping sort out the mess. Solidarity! There would certainly be bigger messes further afield.

 

[Spectric]

Like becoming a sweat shop for the far east etc?

History does seem to go round in circles, empires rise and empires fall. We have reached a point where we are in such a mess that income has been left behind by living cost and getting above inflation pay rises will only help break the bank whilst we not only have no one at the helm but the helm is not functioning either. So we have no choice on the decline, at some point in the future we will hit rock bottom and then we rebuild from a much cleaner sheet of paper, much like someone who declares bankruptcy to get rid of imposible financial burdens. During these transitions people will learn to appreciate the basic's in life because it becomes more about survival and to rebuild we will have to work like the east has done to get to where they are today. How many have thrown away a ball of string because it has become so entangled that you get no where trying to untangle it.

 

[Jacob]

History does seem to go round in circles, empires rise and empires fall. We have reached a point where we are in such a mess that income has been left behind by living cost and getting above inflation pay rises will only help break the bank

No need to break the bank there is massive scope for tax increases at the top end. Starmer will fail unless he takes it on board - proactively now, rather than as last resort when too late.
There is no alternative.
https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/

Now waiting for our resident serfs to line up with unconvincing arguments against taking money from their poor masters!

 

[mudman]

I see a lot of posts about the negative aspects of Brexit. This post on X is an interesting read from the opposite point of view:
FIFTY BREXIT BENEFITS - MEGATHREAD (his capitals, I'm not shouting).