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Post by doctorkernow on Dec 21, 2019 19:14:57 GMT
Hello again. More UK companies in the grasp of foreign multi-nationals. You cannot become a world trading power if your companies are owned by others and presumably paying no or little taxes by having their base in a tax haven. Unfortunately there are a lot of piranas in the corporate ocean and the UK is, I feel, woefully prepared for this outside the protection of the EU. If fear, Johnhurtdoctor that even after a week, Mr Johnson's true colour and character are revealed and by 2024, we will be in an even worse position.
On a slightly dfferent tack, I read a very upsetting article in the Guardian today. It concerned the awful abuse that canvassers and candidates received during the recent election campaign both online and in person. It seems that our country is becoming a less tolerant, angrier, and more agressive. Something, that doesn't seem to be getting better any time soon. Britain has always had a tradition of satirizing and taking the mickey of the Establishment. However, the sheer vitriol expressed by some people is quite extraordinary and unnecessary. Our public life is the poorer for it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2019 19:41:19 GMT
Hello again. More UK companies in the grasp of foreign multi-nationals. You cannot become a world trading power if your companies are owned by others and presumably paying no or little taxes by having their base in a tax haven. Unfortunately there are a lot of piranas in the corporate ocean and the UK is, I feel, woefully prepared for this outside the protection of the EU. If fear, Johnhurtdoctor that even after a week, Mr Johnson's true colour and character are revealed and by 2024, we will be in an even worse position. On a slightly dfferent tack, I read a very upsetting article in the Guardian today. It concerned the awful abuse that canvassers and candidates received during the recent election campaign both online and in person. It seems that our country is becoming a less tolerant, angrier, and more agressive. Something, that doesn't seem to be getting better any time soon. Britain has always had a tradition of satirizing and taking the mickey of the Establishment. However, the sheer vitriol expressed by some people is quite extraordinary and unnecessary. Our public life is the poorer for it. I wouldn't pin this on Johnson as it has been going on sadly for decades - "selling the family silver" as I clearly remember Harold Macmillan saying in the House of Lords back in the days of Margaret Thatchers privatisation drive. Some inefficient industries went from subsidy to growth and healthy dividend, but small shareholders have all too often sold out their shares to overseas big investors who have an eye to big profits, resulting in overseas ownership (and often under investment - 'asset stripping') in too many industries. This argument can include large family owned businesses (eg. Cadbury Bournville) where for the sake of decent management and trade union relations, they may have remained independent as opposed to being bought out by larger overseas conglomerates. The latter paragraph again is perhaps a sad reflection in the lack of ability of many to engage in well informed debate. Like a mob of pitchfork and burning torch wielding yokels wanting to burn someone at the stake. I suppose that's the threat of rule by Populism - the 'might is right' bullying mindset.
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Post by doctorkernow on Dec 21, 2019 19:57:17 GMT
Hello again. You are of course correct Daver, this just the latest in a line of sell offs going back to the eighties. You mention Cadbury, is it me or has their chocolate never been the same since Kraft Foods from the US took them over. Rowntrees too was never quite the same when Nestle took them over. (I know it has an accent but I can't work out how to access it on this keyboard!! More Muppetry)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2019 20:03:09 GMT
Hello again. You are of course correct Daver, this just the latest in a line of sell offs going back to the eighties. You mention Cadbury, is it me or has their chocolate never been the same since Kraft Foods from the US took them over. Rowntrees too was never quite the same when Nestle took them over. (I know it has an accent but I can't work out how to access it on this keyboard!! More Muppetry) Well there is the fact that they no longer use 'Dairy Milk' with their Creme Eggs, whilst Dairy Milk itself no longer claims to have a 'glass and a half' of milk in each bar. Like Hershey's (owners) chocolate, the US variants are noted to be more sugar based for sweetness with less cocoa and milk. I certainly feel I am eating more sugar than chocolate when I have a 'Twirl' these days...
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Post by doctorkernow on Dec 21, 2019 20:12:03 GMT
Hello again.
Yes, I think so, I went to Canada twenty years ago and the 'chocolate' made b Hersheys was certainly not a patch on British chocolate in the 90s. However, due to the rising price of cocoa, most chocolate manufacturers are using more milk and sugar. If you want more cocoa you have to pay more. And don't me started on the prices and shrinkflation factor!
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Post by TinDogPodcast on Dec 24, 2019 12:02:35 GMT
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Post by charlesuirdhein on Jan 8, 2020 13:19:39 GMT
Hello again. You are of course correct Daver, this just the latest in a line of sell offs going back to the eighties. You mention Cadbury, is it me or has their chocolate never been the same since Kraft Foods from the US took them over. Rowntrees too was never quite the same when Nestle took them over. (I know it has an accent but I can't work out how to access it on this keyboard!! More Muppetry) Press AltGr and the letter. It only gives what you might generically call an acute accent though.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Jan 8, 2020 14:12:17 GMT
I thought this thread might have needed retired following the election, but it looks like we will still be talking about brexit throughout 2020.
Interesting article from Robert Peston on his blog on why the Labour leadership candidates should be talking about brexit. What is most interesting is his argument that Labour missed an open goal by not supporting Theresa May's deal last year. Had they done so, he argues, they could have secured a much softer brexit and split the Tory party right down the middle. This would have meant a better brexit outcome and a better election outcome for Labour than what they ended up with.
We are now entering the next phase of brexit, but the central dilemma remains unresolved and unresolveable. Tony Blair said in a speech about a year ago that here were only 2 types of brexit available - the pointless brexit or the painful brexit. The pointless brexit being the one where we closely align with the EU, follow the rules but no longer have a vote on the rules. The painful brexit is the one where we don't follow EU rules, have a harder brexit and our economy suffers accordingly due to tariffs/administration on imports/exports from/to the EU, bottlenecks due to customs controls, etc. Say what you like about Tony and Iraq, he summed up the fundamental problem with brexit perfectly and none of the brexiteers have a convincing answer. All they can offer is "have your cake and eat it" fantasies, or trade deals that (a) will be very disadvantageous to the UK because the rest of the world will know we are desperate after leaving the EU and they have us over a barrel (b) other countries are further away from us than the EU and there will be additional freight costs involved in any trade and (c) won't happen in time for 31 December 2020, or even close.
My two pennies' worth - I think Boris will cave in the talks and go for a soft brexit. Look at the NI backstop. Lots of tough talking beforehand and spin afterwards to cover the reality the he waved a white flag at the EU. I think the current tough talk is more of the same. A hard brexit would be economic and electoral suicide, so Boris will go for a lot of tough rhetoric, followed by a soft brexit with one or two fig leaf concessions that he can spin as a hard brexit. What Tony Blair called the pointless brexit, in other words - except from Boris's point of view it will have got him into No 10 so it is not pointless.
But maybe I'm wrong and he will go for a hard/painful brexit after all and then start throwing government money around Corbyn-style to ease the resultant pain. Mrs T will be turning in her grave if that happens.
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Post by doctorkernow on Jan 8, 2020 17:17:32 GMT
Hello again. You are of course correct Daver, this just the latest in a line of sell offs going back to the eighties. You mention Cadbury, is it me or has their chocolate never been the same since Kraft Foods from the US took them over. Rowntrees too was never quite the same when Nestle took them over. (I know it has an accent but I can't work out how to access it on this keyboard!! More Muppetry) Press AltGr and the letter. It only gives what you might generically call an acute accent though. Hello again, Thanks for your help with that Charlesuirdhein. I'll give that a try. Best wishes. Edit: It worked!
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Post by sherlock on Jan 9, 2020 17:35:52 GMT
As expected with the massive Tory majority, the Withdrawal Agreement has sailed through the Commons unamended. Brexit (Part 1) is done.
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Post by doctorkernow on Jan 9, 2020 18:36:03 GMT
Hello again.
Well the only person apart from Mr Farage and the ERG who will be celebrating will be Adam Hills, and his wife presumably, from The Last Leg who finally be able to shave off that awful beard he has been sporting. It makes him look, like he has escaped from Victorian times, rather like the MP for the 1880s Mr Rees-Mogg!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2020 21:28:25 GMT
As expected with the massive Tory majority, the Withdrawal Agreement has sailed through the Commons unamended. Brexit (Part 1) is done. It's hardly even making the news! With that large Conservative majority in Westminster nobody thought that it wouldn't pass so the media are concentrating on Iran/Plane/Missile/Trump and the Royals...
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Post by number13 on Jan 10, 2020 12:03:46 GMT
Hello again. Well the only person apart from Mr Farage and the ERG who will be celebrating will be Adam Hills, and his wife presumably, from The Last Leg who finally be able to shave off that awful beard he has been sporting. It makes him look, like he has escaped from Victorian times, rather like the MP for the 1880s Mr Rees-Mogg! And presumably at least 52% of the electorate won't be displeased either. (About the vote I mean, not the beard.)
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Jan 10, 2020 12:15:15 GMT
Hello again. Well the only person apart from Mr Farage and the ERG who will be celebrating will be Adam Hills, and his wife presumably, from The Last Leg who finally be able to shave off that awful beard he has been sporting. It makes him look, like he has escaped from Victorian times, rather like the MP for the 1880s Mr Rees-Mogg! And presumably at least 52% of the electorate won't be displeased either. (About the vote I mean, not the beard.) Don't you mean the 34.71% of the total registered voters who voted leave?
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Post by number13 on Jan 10, 2020 12:43:54 GMT
And presumably at least 52% of the electorate won't be displeased either. (About the vote I mean, not the beard.) Don't you mean the 34.71% of the total registered voters who voted leave? The losing side in every vote tends to assume all non-voters really agreed with them. (OK I was on 'the losing side' in 2016, but still.) However we read the Brexit polls since 2016, they've never been very far from 50/50 either way.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2020 15:04:39 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2020 17:35:15 GMT
I'm always open to having my cynicism challenged, but considering that previous vanity projects of successive governments have seen their costs snowball to absolutely obscene levels (looking at you, Millennium Dome and HS2), the likelyhood of the current occupant of Number 10 not being able to resist wanting an active role in the festival's planning and politicising it for his own ends, not to mention the naive aspiration of the director of the project that it will bring the nation back together after the most devisive decision in years and on a basic level bring 'joy, hope and happiness' to us all.(🤦♂️) ..I'm not holding my breath that it will be by 2022. Still, I look forward to being proved wrong...
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2020 18:56:47 GMT
I'm always open to having my cynicism challenged, but considering that previous vanity projects of successive governments have seen their costs snowball to absolutely obscene levels (looking at you, Millennium Dome and HS2), the likelyhood of the current occupant of Number 10 not being able to resist wanting an active role in the festival's planning and politicising it for his own ends, not to mention the naive aspiration of the director of the project that it will bring the nation back together after the most devisive decision in years and on a basic level bring 'joy, hope and happiness' to us all.(🤦♂️) ..I'm not holding my breath that it will be by 2022. Still, I look forward to being proved wrong... I await the "Brexit Day should be a bank holiday" call, another nice bit of Brexit PR. Honestly that festival is my idea of hell. It's going to attract some seriously horrible extreme right Tommy Robinson lovers...
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,819
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Post by lidar2 on Jan 13, 2020 9:11:31 GMT
I'm always open to having my cynicism challenged, but considering that previous vanity projects of successive governments have seen their costs snowball to absolutely obscene levels (looking at you, Millennium Dome and HS2), the likelyhood of the current occupant of Number 10 not being able to resist wanting an active role in the festival's planning and politicising it for his own ends, not to mention the naive aspiration of the director of the project that it will bring the nation back together after the most devisive decision in years and on a basic level bring 'joy, hope and happiness' to us all.(🤦♂️) ..I'm not holding my breath that it will be by 2022. Still, I look forward to being proved wrong... I await the "Brexit Day should be a bank holiday" call, another nice bit of Brexit PR. Honestly that festival is my idea of hell. It's going to attract some seriously horrible extreme right Tommy Robinson lovers... I think a national day of celebration only works for something non controversial like a royal wedding or the anniversary of ve day. For something like brexit where there is still a feeling of winners and losers it is hard to see how the winners celebrating their victory will come across as anything other than gloating at the losers' expense.
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Post by number13 on Jan 13, 2020 9:53:15 GMT
I await the "Brexit Day should be a bank holiday" call, another nice bit of Brexit PR. Honestly that festival is my idea of hell. It's going to attract some seriously horrible extreme right Tommy Robinson lovers... I think a national day of celebration only works for something non controversial like a royal wedding or the anniversary of ve day. For something like brexit where there is still a feeling of winners and losers it is hard to see how the winners celebrating their victory will come across as anything other than gloating at the losers' expense. Agree entirely, it would be completely tasteless to celebrate a political event in that way by dressing it in 'national' trappings. Worse than (for example) an incoming Prime Minister filling Downing St. with Union flag-waving supporters to show how much The Nation loved him. Not that anyone would do something like that in the UK of course, it's just an example.
And of course Davy is right too, Jan 31st should not be a Bank Holiday, obviously. Anyway, who would want two Bank Holidays in January of all months?
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