BREXIT

[bigwull]

THIS IS LEAVING EUROPE EXPLAINED

Mr David Davis is at the golf club returning his locker key when Mr Barnier, the membership secretary sees him.

"Hello Mr Davis", says Mr Barnier. "I'm sorry to hear you are no longer renewing your club membership,if you would like to come to my office we can settle your account".

"I have settled my bar bill" says Mr Davis..

"Ah yes Mr Davis", says Mr Barnier, "but there are other matters that need settlement"

In Mr Barniers office Mr Davis explains that he has settled his bar bill so wonders what else he can possibly owe the Golf Club?

"Well Mr Davis" begins Mr Barnier, "you did agree to buy one of our Club Jackets".

"Yes" agrees Mr Davis "I did agree to buy a jacket but I haven't received it yet". "As soon as you supply the jacket I will send you a cheque for the full amount".

That will not be possible" explains Mr Barnier. "As you are no longer a club member you will not be entitled to buy one of our jackets"!

"But you still want me to pay for it" exclaims Mr Davis.

"Yes" says Mr Barnier, "That will be £500 for the jacket. "There is also your bar bill".

"But I've already settled my bar bill" says Mr Davis.

"Yes" says Mr Barnier, "but as you can appreciate, we need to place our orders from the Brewery in advance to ensure our bar is properly stocked"..

"You regularly used to spend at least £50 a week in the bar so we have placed orders with the brewery accordingly for the coming year". "You therefore owe us £2600 for the year".

"Will you still allow me to have these drinks?" asks Mr Davis "No of course not Mr Davis". "You are no longer a club member!" says Mr Barnier. "Next is your restaurant bill" continues Mr Barnier. "In the same manner we have to make arrangements in advance with our catering suppliers". "Your average restaurant bill was in the order of £300 a month, so we'll require payment of £3600 for the next year".

"I don't suppose you'll be letting me have these meals either" asks Mr Davis.

"No, of course not" says an irritated Mr Barnier, "you are no longer a club member!"

"Then of course" Mr Barnier continues, "there are repairs to the clubhouse roof".

"Clubhouse roof" exclaims Mr Davis, "What's that got to do with me?"

"Well it still needs to be repaired and the builders are coming in next week, your share of the bill is £2000".

"I see" says Mr Davis, "anything else?".

"Now you mention it" says Mr Barnier, "there is Fred the Barman's pension".

"We would like you to pay £5 a week towards Fred's pension when he retires next month". "He's not well you know so I doubt we'll need to ask you for payment for longer than about five years, so £1300 should do it". "This brings your total bill to £10,000" says Mr Barnier.

"Let me get this straight" says Mr Davis, "you want me to pay £500 for a jacket you won't let me have, £2600 for beverages you won't let me drink and

£3600 for food you won't let me eat, all under a roof I won't be allowed under and not served by a bloke who's going to retire next month!"

"Yes, it's all perfectly clear and quite reasonable" says MrBarnier.

"Piss off!" says Mr Davis

Now we understand what Brexit is all about!!!!!

[John Donnelly]

First up, let me be the first to agree that the European Union is far from perfect; as is the UK, the US, the Russian Federation, the UN, the etc, etc, etc.
Second up, the EU is not a golf club with a simple twelve month subscription rule and a two month resignation notice-period.
Third up, joining the EU involved agreeing to abide by its strategic financial arrangements which have a more complicated future-planning period than a golf club. The UK itself, just as all countries, has such arrangements which are considerably longer than twelve months. Just as an example, should Scotland ever manage to break with the UK, the existing UK would be demanding similar long-term Scoxit terms from us.
Before you argue that such terms are either unfair, or that we did not know about, or understand them properly, when we joined up, then that is the fault of the government who signed up to them in the first place; a government that you, the electorate, voted into office, and based on a referendum which you, the electorate voted for.
The electorate of the UK was sold a pup in the leaving referendum two years ago. They were promised all sorts of savings and the main thrust of the leave argument was immigration, a purely emotional/nationalistic one; (shame !!!). To put this further in perspective, the UK constitution does not allow for binding referenda, only advisory ones. There is absolutely no reason why the government is maintaining that ‘the people have spoken.’ Constitutionally, the people have not spoken, they have merely expressed an opinion. To compound this piece of nonsense, any self-respecting village table-tennis club, has a clause in its constitution that any changes to the club constitution needs at least two thirds of the votes cast to approve any changes to the constitution. Compare this to the 52% / 48% achieved the other June.
As a committed, even passionate, European, (I make no secret about it), I am convinced that the UK will have a huge headache when they leave. There will be savings, but these will not weigh against the disadvantages which will follow. Now the details are becoming clearer, it is becoming obvious what these disadvantages are and how far-reaching they will be. It is a step backwards. I hope that good sense will eventually prevail and you, the electorate, will step back from what I am sure is a huge mistake.
I am closely involved with the wider ex-pat community here, and everybody is convinced that Brexit is not a good idea. As an aside, we ex-pats here are fuming that we were not allowed to vote in the referendum; something that is another piece of nonsense. I was at a gathering last year where there was a minister-rank ex-European Civil Servant, who is a Brit. in the company, (and who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons). He expressed his professional view that Brexit will be a disaster.
I urge you, as some-one who has a been fed a broader, more international, view of the situation, to try to dig deeper than the home-grown media-fare you are being fed and to look further afield for a broader background and view about the effects of Brexit for the UK. For example we get UK, US, French, German, Spanish, Italian and even Turkish TV stations here in Holland; three or four of each. In general, the EU countries want the UK to remain and think we are crazy to leave.
Lastly, something I have been pointing out since day one; the EU is not an economic but a political creation. Like it or not, this is the reality. Its infant forerunners were called into being to preserve peace in Europe after the war. Admittedly, these were created on the backs of such economic organisations as The European Coal and Steel Community and the Benelux because there were too many deep divisions for anything else at the time. The proof of its success is the seventy years of peace and (sometimes) prosperity since 1945.
This is what Brexit really is all about. Remain in the EU and reform and reshape it from within. God knows it is needed. We need you.

DON’T THROW IT AWAY.

JD.

[michaelm]

First up, let me be the first to agree that the European Union is far from perfect; as is the UK, the US, the Russian Federation, the UN, the etc, etc, etc.
Second up, the EU is not a golf club with a simple twelve month subscription rule and a two month resignation notice-period.
Third up, joining the EU involved agreeing to abide by its strategic financial arrangements which have a more complicated future-planning period than a golf club. The UK itself, just as all countries, has such arrangements which are considerably longer than twelve months. Just as an example, should Scotland ever manage to break with the UK, the existing UK would be demanding similar long-term Scoxit terms from us.
Before you argue that such terms are either unfair, or that we did not know about, or understand them properly, when we joined up, then that is the fault of the government who signed up to them in the first place; a government that you, the electorate, voted into office, and based on a referendum which you, the electorate voted for.
The electorate of the UK was sold a pup in the leaving referendum two years ago. They were promised all sorts of savings and the main thrust of the leave argument was immigration, a purely emotional/nationalistic one; (shame !!!). To put this further in perspective, the UK constitution does not allow for binding referenda, only advisory ones. There is absolutely no reason why the government is maintaining that ‘the people have spoken.’ Constitutionally, the people have not spoken, they have merely expressed an opinion. To compound this piece of nonsense, any self-respecting village table-tennis club, has a clause in its constitution that any changes to the club constitution needs at least two thirds of the votes cast to approve any changes to the constitution. Compare this to the 52% / 48% achieved the other June.
As a committed, even passionate, European, (I make no secret about it), I am convinced that the UK will have a huge headache when they leave. There will be savings, but these will not weigh against the disadvantages which will follow. Now the details are becoming clearer, it is becoming obvious what these disadvantages are and how far-reaching they will be. It is a step backwards. I hope that good sense will eventually prevail and you, the electorate, will step back from what I am sure is a huge mistake.
I am closely involved with the wider ex-pat community here, and everybody is convinced that Brexit is not a good idea. As an aside, we ex-pats here are fuming that we were not allowed to vote in the referendum; something that is another piece of nonsense. I was at a gathering last year where there was a minister-rank ex-European Civil Servant, who is a Brit. in the company, (and who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons). He expressed his professional view that Brexit will be a disaster.
I urge you, as some-one who has a been fed a broader, more international, view of the situation, to try to dig deeper than the home-grown media-fare you are being fed and to look further afield for a broader background and view about the effects of Brexit for the UK. For example we get UK, US, French, German, Spanish, Italian and even Turkish TV stations here in Holland; three or four of each. In general, the EU countries want the UK to remain and think we are crazy to leave.
Lastly, something I have been pointing out since day one; the EU is not an economic but a political creation. Like it or not, this is the reality. Its infant forerunners were called into being to preserve peace in Europe after the war. Admittedly, these were created on the backs of such economic organisations as The European Coal and Steel Community and the Benelux because there were too many deep divisions for anything else at the time. The proof of its success is the seventy years of peace and (sometimes) prosperity since 1945.
This is what Brexit really is all about. Remain in the EU and reform and reshape it from within. God knows it is needed. We need you.

DON’T THROW IT AWAY.

JD.

I thought this section was meant to be all about jokes and fun.

[bonzo]

Any chance you get voice your opinion on these deluded little englanders do it honestly there's a joke in there somewhere but unfortunately it's on us.

[John Donnelly]

I had thought about that. I was going to ask Hughie to move it to somewhere more suitable.

Hughie; can do ?

JD.

[Hughie]

No big deal, I'll move it.

[michaelm]

Thanks Hughie, you're a Star.

[Hughie]

It's better to click on the "Report a Post" button which is in the form an Exclamation mark in all posts - see above to the right in this post. It alerts us if a member feels a post needs attention - we can then make a decision if it does need our attention.

[John Donnelly]

It's better to click on the "Report a Post" button which is in the form an Exclamation mark in all posts - see above to the right in this post. It alerts us if a member feels a post needs attention - we can then make a decision if it does need our attention.

That's a point. I always thought that button was to report something unsavoury. JD.

[michaelm]

bigwull, thought your own initial post there was quite funny and posted in the correct forum. I've no idea why it was moved.

[John Donnelly]

Michael.
Some of us don't think Brexit is funny.
JD.

[michaelm]

Yes, I can understand that JD and I've no issues whatsoever with your own views on it. I just didn't want bigwull to think I had a problem with his post.

Wish I'd just kept quiet from the start now.