Guided Missile

So, please explain this to me, because I'm an ignorant Brexiteer. We invest £3 billion in the European Investment Bank in 1973, which itself invests in infrastructure projects in the EU. EIB stopped funding UK projects in June of this year, but today we find that we have to wait until 2054 to get our investment back, today worth over €10 billion and consisting an equity interest of 16% of the bank. At least Lloyds paid the UK taxpayer back and the £3.2 billion we lent the ungrateful Irish when they were in the cr@p in 2010 gets repaid by 2021. Still, I'm sure the EU **** suckers on this forum will think it's perfectly reasonable. Meanwhile, Catalonia leaves the EU overnight......

I love the total over reaction on this thread, despite the good news daily, regarding our exit from the EU and our prospects thereafter. I think it may be worth reminding the "We're Doomed" brigade of some very simple UK trade figures from 2015. [TABLE=class: cms_table, width: 500] [TR] [TD]Country[/TD] [TD]Imports (£m)[/TD] [TD]Exports (£m)[/TD] [TD]Total Trade(£m)[/TD] [TD]Trade Balance (£m)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]EU[/TD] [TD]220,150[/TD] [TD]133,832[/TD] [TD]353,982[/TD] [TD]-86,318[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Germany[/TD] [TD]60,860[/TD] [TD]30,382[/TD] [TD]91,242[/TD] [TD]-30,478[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]US[/TD] [TD]35,291[/TD] [TD]45,278[/TD] [TD]80,568[/TD] [TD]+9,987[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] You may wonder why both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are unwilling to complete the TTIP, given the US trade figures below: [TABLE=class: cms_table, width: 500] [TR] [TD]Country[/TD] [TD]Imports ($m)[/TD] [TD]Exports ($m)[/TD] [TD]Total Trade ($m)[/TD] [TD]Balance ($m)[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]EU[/TD] [TD]416,666[/TD] [TD]270,325[/TD] [TD]686,991[/TD] [TD]-146,340[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Germany[/TD] [TD]114,227[/TD] [TD]49,362[/TD] [TD]163,589[/TD] [TD]-64,865[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Two simple questions spring to mind from the trade figures above. Why are we worried in the slightest about the trade terms being "dictated" to us by a bunch of un-elected bureaucrats from Brussels whose masters have more to lose than we do? How did we let Germany dominate world trade, post WWII to the detriment of countries they tried to enslave? As Trump warned them: The Germans are bad, very bad. See the millions of cars they sell in the U.S., terrible. We will stop this. In 1950, the UK was the world's largest exporter of cars. It just shows what socialism and the EU has done to our car industry since. We need to fight socialism and the inevitable state interference in our private industries and let them compete on the world market. That is the way we will be forced to produce goods the whole world wants. "Necessity is the mother of invention". A maxim that has served our great country well for centuries. Soda water: Joseph Priestley, 1772 Hydraulic press: Joseph Bramah, 1795 Steam engine: Richard Trevithick, 1801 Glider: George Cayley, 1804 Tension-spoked wheel: George Cayley, 1808 Tin can: Peter Durand, 1810 Modern fire extinguisher: George William Manby, 1818 Electric motor: Michael Faraday, 1821 Waterproof material: Charles Macintosh, 1823 Cement: Joseph Aspdin, 1824 Passenger railway: George Stephenson, 1825 Lawnmower: Edwin Beard Budding, 1827 Photography: William Henry Fox Talbot, 1835 Electric telegraph: Charles Wheatstone & William Cooke, 1837 Chocolate bar: JS Fry & Sons, 1847 Hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood, 1853 Synthetic dye: William Perkin, 1856 Bessemer process: Henry Bessemer, 1856 Linoleum: Frederick Walton, 1860 Sewage system: Joseph Bazalgette, 1865 Modern Torpedo: Robert Whitehead, 1866 Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell, 1876 Light Bulb: Joseph Swan, 1880 Steam turbine: Charles Parsons, 1884 Safety bicycle: John Kemp Stanley, 1885 Pneumatic tyre: John Boyd Dunlop, 1887 Thermos flask: Sir James Dewar, 1892 Electric vacuum cleaner: Hubert Cecil Booth, 1901 Disc Brakes: Frederick William Lanchester, 1902 Stainless Steel: Harry Brearley, 1913 Military tank: Ernest Swinton, 1914 Television: John Logie Baird, 1925 Catseye: Percy Shaw, 1933 Jet Engine: Frank Whittle, 1937 Electronic programmable computer: Tommy Flowers, 1943 Hovercraft: Christopher Cockerell, 1953 Automatic kettle: Peter Hobbs, 1955 Float Glass: Alastair Pilkington, 1959 Hip Replacement: John Charnley, 1962 Carbon fibre: Royal Aircraft Establishment engineers, 1963 Collapsible baby buggy: Owen Maclaren, 1965 ATM: John Shepherd-Barron, 1967 World Wide Web: Tim Berners-Lee, 1989 Wind-up radio: Trevor Baylis, 1991 Steri-spray: Ian Helmore, c. 2008 I love our country...

If only we were as quick and successful as the EU, at negotiating trade deals....

You're far too clever for me...

I rang up Sky and said I wanted to cancel my subscription and leave in March 2019. They said no problem, but after I leave, I will have to keep paying the subscription for another two years, I won't be able to watch Sky Sports and during this time, they will have the right to tell me which channels on BBC I can watch....

Brexiteers already got their way using a concept known as democracy. Suck it up, Scotty. The Scots remained part of the UK and we all got the Tories running the show. If people have a chance to exercise their vote on any of these issues, the reality may change. In the meantime, it would be nice if some on here would stop whining...

Sally Jones killed in a drone strike. Good news...

Another little snippet to depress the traitors...

How cute...

More confirmation of how corrupt the EU is, here. Tip of the iceberg, in my opinion. All I can say is we should get the hell out of Dodge, ASAP. In charge of human rights, FFS...

When you're a troll, the argument doesn't really matter. It's more about insulting posters and getting a hard on when they bite. Luckily I have him on ignore, at least while no one quotes him. Boring ***t with time on his hands to post 13,000 times on the internet because his work colleagues obviously have him on ignore as well. He needs this forum for a modicum of the respect he fails to command in the real world with his winning personality, so by all means continue the dialogue. You are obviously more committed to care in the community than I am, although thanks for making the obvious point in your post, to show what a tool he is.

It's interesting to look at the contribution the UK makes to the EU budget and the disproportionate number of UK staff working in the bloated EU institution we are getting ripped of by, which exists increasingly for it's own purpose, not that of it's citizens.

Looks like it'll be WTO rules then, according to the FT: Screw the EU and stop the direct debit in 2019. D!ck them around for the next 12 months and then walk away.

If you are saying that the link supports your view that Frankfurt will replace London as the global financial centre, then you're on drugs. While you're high, you should also question, from the link, why New York should be worried about Frankfurt, as they look like they are also runs as well.... "Deutsche Bank not a lot different to RBS, Lloyds Group from what I can see. I’m not a banking expert..."??? You obviously aren't a banking expert, but I'll let you off, as none of the "banking experts" saw the 2008 crash coming. You don't have to be an expert to see that Deutsche Bank is nothing like Lloyds Bank. Here's the story to help you.

Four main points here. Frankfurt won't replace London as the world's financial centre. (see here) The few jobs that go will be replaced by new ones in manufacturing due to the attractiveness of our exchange rate. If Germany is such a good place for banks, why is Deutsche Bank still in deep sh !t A few bankers leave London. Who cares? As far as "Labour voters , Tory and the idiot Independence party voters have cost our nation and our children a future", I would study the unemployment rates for the under 25's in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Greece, my little snowflake...

I have no idea who you mean....

This one's a laugh:

This has been known for a while and yet some still think the EU is a good idea. Read this:

...and I'm absolutely running rings round you, you old windbag and there's nothing you can do but sit in front of you PC and fume until tomorrow...

.....and that's your third post....

I paid £10 to limit you to three posts a day, Wes...

You really should inform yourself of the "modern integrated society", founded by that well known fascist dictator, Franco before the war, that is Spain. Prior to this mini-Hitler who imposed the structure of his "modern integrated society" on the Catalans, they have proclaimed independence a few times: Some of the old people beaten up by the police in Barcelona, lived through the Spanish Civil War. You should take a look at the list of names of the British and Irish killed, who were part of the International Brigade that fought against the vile old fascist dictator in the Spanish Civil War. Jack Jones, the British Trade Union leader fought there when the unions were a real political force in this country. Fair play to Corbyn for condemning the action of the Spanish police. A pity the EU didn't.

It makes you wonder how Monaco and Andorra have existed quite happily as independent states for centuries, with Andorra as Catalan. If I lived in Barcelona, I would glance at Monaco, adopt their tax policies and stop sending more taxes to Madrid than they send back in benefits. It's not as if they are sponging Jocks...

A Zealot speaketh the truth: