buctootim

My aunt was a nun. They are sworn to poverty and must give all their worldly wealth to the order. So when her brother died and left his house and estate to her she didn't hesitate - and opened an offshore bank account. True story

The scale of just our Galaxy is so mind boggling - 300 billion stars - it would take Voyager about 2 million years to cross it. And yet there are probably more than 2 trillion galaxies (thanks wiki). Fascinating to think how many life forms are probably out there but even at the speed of light way too far away for us to ever come in contact.

3,000 of them. Marginally outnumbered by the 15,000 strong counter march and the 700,000 strong Remain march in October.

Agreed no one else could have made a much better fist of it given the red lines which had been drawn, but it was May who drew them , so the fault remains with her. Basically she is still culpable , but mostly for her immediate post brexit mistakes rather than the later ones.

Two years on and people still believe the Unicorn deal is there for the taking

5/4 on at Betfair

Better stay in the EU then - they're opposed, only Britian and two others want to sign up https://admin.express.co.uk/news/world/1053577/migration-law-rejected-european-union-united-nations-new-policies-human-rights

Pound Sterling "Worst Currency to Hold" into Year-End, Takes a Hammering vs. Dollar and Euro as Market Gears up for Brexit Bill Failure https://www.poundsterlinglive.com/gbp-live-today/10459-gbp-worst-currency-to-hold-vs-eur-and-usd-into-year-end We shouldn't laugh, but hey.....

You're quoting as evidence a backwoods salesman with no economics background? The number 2 in a company of three? ffs, your posts get more out there every day. https://www.sitkapacific.com/bios/ I see Deutsche bank have racked up another £1.5 billion profit so far this year and beat Barclays and Llloyds in the stress tests. Still only a matter of time before they bankrupt the EU, destroy the euro, kidnap your kids and cast them down into the vortex of eternal despair. Maybe you could ask Mish about it? FWIW Italian debt as a percentage of GDP has stopped growing and slightly declined in 2017 at 132%. Not good obviously but nowhere near as bad as two of the largest three economies in the world - Japan 252% and China on 304% according to the IIF https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/28/chinas-debt-surpasses-300-percent-of-gdp-iif-says-raising-doubts-over-yellens-crisis-remarks.html

Les only does autonomic

The biggest, far and away the biggest spend of public funds is the NHS. Anybody living in the UK can access it for free. Quite a deal if you also claim you are domiciled for tax purposes overseas and therefore not liable for tax. EU citizens have no incentive to do that 1. because of reciprocity on health within the EU 2. Tax burdens in EU countries are generally at least as high as the UK and enforcement is tight. Not so with visa holders from developing countries.

How about Sarah Woolaston, a GP and Chair of the Health select committee? As a doctor, Wollaston has a long acquaintance with the principle of “informed consent”. Any patient about to undergo an operation, she says, would “expect to know what the operation is going to be, the risks and benefits. What you wouldn’t do is consent someone to an operation two years in advance, without them knowing what the operation involved”. This, she says, is why she has joined the campaign for a second referendum. “If, in two years’ time, there are serious unintended consequences, I don’t want people writing to me asking ‘what did you do?’ I want to be able to point to the things that I did try to do. Not because I want to block Brexit, but because I want to check we’re prepared. To proceed without informed consent would be a catastrophic mistake.”

Can't be worse than 'Last Tango in Paris'

A Sky poll finds that a majority of people in all age groups and in all UK regions feel neither a no deal Brexit nor May's deal 'would be worth it' if it meant lower economic growth than staying in the EU. https://news.sky.com/story/most-britons-think-brexit-not-worth-economic-hit-sky-data-poll-finds-11566038 https://interactive.news.sky.com/BREXITECONOMY_TABS_281118.pdf

If that were true you wouldn't be on here *****ing about the price.

Afaik Australia wasnt a party to Anglo-Irish treaty or the Good Friday Agreement. The reason for the backstop is that Britain has legally binding pre-existing agreements with Ireland on freedom of movement and trade. The EU is simply backing Ireland in making sure the UK continues to honour those if it leaves the EU. Bespoke provisions were also made for the Channel Islands, military bases on Cyprus and Gibraltar

Ha! You've totally missed the point - as leavers tend to. Dopey centraal. The fatal flaw in your argument is that no-one ever believed the UK would walk away because the costs of doing so are too high and benefits too small. Sure May has handled it badly, but whoever was negotiating wouldn't have got a significantly better deal, Have you seriously never wondered why countries bother to spend so much time and effort trying to get trade deals instead of relying on WTO rules? Here's a clue. Its because WTO terms aren't all that great. Nowhere near as good as most trade agreements and certainly not a patch on a single market and customs union. May knows it, the EU knows it, Brexiteers think its all a plot. You used to argue that leaving was worth the economic damage because the gains of sovereignty outweighed them. Thats a flawed but tenable argument. Bleating now about the other 27 not caving in when the UK put a gun to its own head is beyond risible. Blaming the people who have been telling you for 2.5 years that is exactly what would happen is whole space cadet level above.

Welcome to the real world of trade negotiations. The world where your potential trade partners actually want you to make concessions and wont simply give you everything you want with nothing in return as part of "the easiest trade deal in history". Thats going to be the reality of every single negotiation if Britain leaves, from Australia to Zambia they are going to be demanding preferential access to immigration, technology, investment and anything else of value. Thats why its so ****ing stupid to be leaving - dumping an arrangement which gives us direct access to 27 countries plus another 28 trade deals negotiated by the strong bloc of 28 as opposed to starting from scratch as nation of one.

Salmonella infection is more serious. In any event you know that makes it worse right? Salmonella is generally caused by poor husbandry practices - low standards in the factory farms in breeding and raising flocks. Campylobacter is a product of poor slaughtering and processing standards - its basically shi* getting onto the meat. Awesome, garbage from egg to table. Try finding a red tractor on takeaway and restaurant food, ready meals or processed items like burgers or nuggets.

Foie gras production is disgusting, but at least its marked and you can easily avoid it. The issue with American food is that we are talking of mass production of foods we buy everyday - chicken, pork, beef, wheat, corn, soya not some niche product 90% of people have never even tried. I'm not a health food fanatic by any means but I draw the line at chicken that needs to be washed because its full of salmonella, beef and pork raised with antibiotics and growth hormone and GM cereals

GM's perfect dinner once we get our sovereignty back

That doesnt cover a huge part of the picture though. Currently British airlines (and all other EU based airlines) can fly to and from any European city. That means British Airways for example can schedule a plane to leave Gatwick at 06.00, fly to Berlin, then fly from Berlin to say Madrid, onwards from Madrid to the Canaries, from the Canaries back to Turn and from Turin back Heathrow. It enables a highly efficient use of planes and crew. If we leave without an agreement, even if the above rules do apply, British planes will be able to fly from the UK to a EU city and back to the UK, but not to make intra EU flights between two EU countries. That means EU based airlines will have a huge cost and flexibility advantage. Its the primary reason that Easyjet set up Easy jet Europe last July (based in Vienna) and why British Airways are now approaching the Spanish Government to be domiciled in Madrid.

Who were two of the three worst performers in EU wide bank stress tests? Barclays and Lloyds. Everything you say is either flat wrong or dishonest. Consistency is your only virtue. https://www.eba.europa.eu/documents/10180/2419200/2018-EU-wide-stress-test-Results.pdf

Second left died before the meeting by the looks