What Is Happening To Our Country?

[Weston Super Saint]

2 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Nice to see he still wants to be left alone and have no media attention. 

I think that was only the bit before the money ran out.

[Lighthouse]

Concorde did not revolutionise anything. It was a spectacular piece of engineering and my favourite aircraft, however the much less glamourous Airbus A300 was far more 'revolutionary' in terms of moving the industry forward.

[Sir Ralph]

36 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2dwylkl7weo

By the way, we're being positioned to go back into the EU.

I assume another referendum will be required? If so we need to negotiate good terms with the eu or the electorate won’t vote for it

[tdmickey3]

53 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2dwylkl7weo

By the way, we're being positioned to go back into the EU.

Hopefully it will happen

[Farmer Saint]

16 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I assume another referendum will be required? If so we need to negotiate good terms with the eu or the electorate won’t vote for it

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

[badgerx16]

15 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

Not for the next GE, but possibly the one after.

[Sir Ralph]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

[egg]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Concorde did not revolutionise anything. It was a spectacular piece of engineering and my favourite aircraft, however the much less glamourous Airbus A300 was far more 'revolutionary' in terms of moving the industry forward.

It's subjective. A plane that carried passengers across the Atlantic in a few hours, back then, was revolutionary imo. Some may argue evolutionary.

Re space ex, whilst getting into low orbit space, in rockets that can be used again is impressive, I'm not sure that 60 years after man apparently landed in the moon, such an advance is any more revolutionary than concorde was way back then. 

Each to their own, but I don't sit here wowed by what Musk has done. 

[Sheaf Saint]

5 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

Not really. The Tories didn't have to hold the last one, and they didn't have to act on the result of it either, what with it not being legally binding.

Edited 10 hours ago by Sheaf Saint

[Sir Ralph]

29 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Not really. The Tories didn't have to hold the last one, and they didn't have to act on the result of it either, what with it not being legally binding.

Fair enough I’m not sure of the legalities of leaving and rejoining. I suspect Labour may GE campaign on a referendum being put to the people in the knowledge I suspect that more than 50% will vote to rejoin 

Edited 10 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

35 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

We didn't have one last time we joined.

[Sir Ralph]

6 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

We didn't have one last time we joined.

Yes as I said I’m not sure so assume you’re correct. Politically Labour may want a referendum so it isn’t criticised for being “undemocratic” as people may argue that Labour voters voted for them and other policies not EU membership solely. That’s a political decision. Would be interesting to see the terms the EU offers us, bearing in mind we left but that they also want to offer attractive enough terms that we rejoin (through whatever mechanism that is). If the terms aren’t perceived to be good and labour are basing their GE campaign on this, it would reduce its chances of being reelected 

Edited 9 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

24 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes as I said I’m not sure so assume you’re correct. Politically Labour may want a referendum so it isn’t criticised for being “undemocratic” as people may argue that Labour voters voted for them and other policies not EU membership solely. That’s a political decision. Would be interesting to see the terms the EU offers us, bearing in mind we left but that they also want to offer attractive enough terms that we rejoin (through whatever mechanism that is). If the terms aren’t perceived to be good and labour are basing their GE campaign on this, it would reduce its chances of being reelected 

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

Edited 9 hours ago by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

27 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

We could "work towards" it for the next century

[badgerx16]

8 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

We could "work towards" it for the next century

Correct. It took Bulgaria 22 years,  and 4 other countries that joined in 2004 have still to adopt the Euro, ( Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary ). Also, Denmark has an opt-out after voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

Maybe I should have written "...the EU would technically have to.. ".

Edited 8 hours ago by badgerx16

[Osvaldorama]

3 hours ago, egg said:

It's subjective. A plane that carried passengers across the Atlantic in a few hours, back then, was revolutionary imo. Some may argue evolutionary.

Re space ex, whilst getting into low orbit space, in rockets that can be used again is impressive, I'm not sure that 60 years after man apparently landed in the moon, such an advance is any more revolutionary than concorde was way back then. 

Each to their own, but I don't sit here wowed by what Musk has done. 

 

Ah fair play, someone ring up NASA and tell them to cancel the upcoming moon landings and Mars visits. Egg on saintsweb isn’t wowed. 
 

While we’re at it, tell them he doesn’t care about starlink, autonomous driving or xAI either. 
 

I’m sure you and your public sector pals could knock all that tech up in an afternoon. 😂 🤡 

Edited 6 hours ago by Osvaldorama

[Farmer Saint]

4 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

No, not at all. Referendums aren't even legally binding.

[Farmer Saint]

3 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

Or we could just take the Euro. I'd do it just to piss off the 52%.

[Gloucester Saint]

First Middlesbrough, roughest of all, then Gateshead https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crwyzkw2lzk1o

Rough as a badger’s arse around there. Driving a hearse onto the pitch in the middle of a football game going on.

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Or we could just take the Euro. I'd do it just to piss off the 52%.

Imagine locking in now rather than at 65-70p when we had the chance, or even at Brown's floated 73 pence. Our cannolis would be a wee bit more expensive than they could have been. 

[Sir Ralph]

4 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

"I am". I was being diplomatic so well done for being right.I always find you have to let people have the odd win now and again to make them feel better 😂
 I hadnt given it any mental consideration whatsoever, hence why I put it out there.

Joining the Euro will be too close a union with the EU for most of the electorate to swallow, I suspect. It depends how pragmatic the EU and its representative members want to be regarding this. Criticism in the past has been that they havent read the room so will be interesting to see if they do. My personal view is that we should rejoin, but I do sense a degree of arrogance and beauracracy with EU decision making, so lets see. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[Challenger]

On 21/09/2026 at 20:56, badgerx16 said:

 

 

Revive the oubliette ?

Great Idea, I had completely forgotten about them.