How do we resolve the Brexit mess?

[Xhavenjoe]

The FAI will be on to him shortly.

Make up for Rice and Grealish going the other way ;-)

I can see the banner already

"Free the Bellingham one"

 

[bluethrunthru]

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Can we skip the €8.95 for a pint at Temple Bar please?

Guinness. €5.50 a pint in Duggans of Parkgate Street last night.

Not bad at all.

I was in England this month and didn’t get a pint for that price.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

It was all about the wording. They were told that they will get special rights to stay, not realising that what they were meaning was that the host country would let them apply for citizenship and lose rights to the UK system.

Strangely, none of them asked the question before flying back to the UK to vote for it.

You don’t have to have citizenship, just residency.

 

[blueinsa]

I think the reason most of us despair so much is unlike General Elections, we can’t reverse it a few years down the track. We have unilaterally decided to make ourselves poorer and more isolated - and there’s nothing that can be done to go back. We’ve inflicted a wound upon ourselves which is not going to heal for many years. And it was completely unnecessary. No-one made us do it.

This thread gives some of us an outlet to vent about all that. That has been the principal function of this thread for some time, and widely known as such. And will remain so, most likely.

I hardly talk about Brexit in the real world. I rant to my girlfriend about it once a fortnight, possibly less these days; apologise to my son whenever I see him (about once a month) and take the piss out of my Brexit voting mates (who I know can take it). Did that yesterday to someone I know who’s a judge, (unusually) a working class Tory who voted to leave. Thanked him for it and said he must be pleased with how well it’s going! He laughed and gave as much back!

Others on here live and breathe it, but I definitely don’t. But I thought it was a huge mistake and sadly I’ve been proved correct, and coming on here, into this echo chamber, gives me an outlet that prevents me being an insufferable bore about the subject in the real world. If it makes me a bore on this thread, then I’ll live with that.

We do need to move on, and make the most of it though. I fully accept that. Hopefully Starmer will be more hawkish about realigning in some ways, once elected. I think that will soothe a lot of the wounds. At least for me.

I like you.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I like you.

I know, I’m a great guy.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

And I must remember to apologise to my son who is sat at the opposite end of the sofa as we watch the Lucy Blackman documentary together!

 

[KPXBLN]

And this is our problem. Entitlement. First, the EU is not some convivial club, it’s an aggressive trade block that protects its own interests and is a bastard to negotiate with when you are a non-member, as we found out. The EU serves the interests of its members, not non-members, and has no interest or mandate to be ‘nice’.

Second, the EU has no interest or desire to make itself attractive to join. It doesn’t have to. The benefits are clear and obvious and if a country can’t see that or isn’t interested then don’t join. Currently, there is a queue of countries who want to join. One of them is fighting a bloody war in part because it wanted to join. The EU isn’t going to reform to suit the UK because the UK is no longer a member. We quit, and once we quit, bang went any leverage we had.

At some point, people have to start accepting the reality of our situation. There is no rejoin. Anything that smacks of cooperation with Europe is ruled out. We are stuck with a crappy deal for the foreseeable. Trade with the EU will be sub-optimal and more expensive, although NI will continue to benefit via Dublin (a member) lobbying on their behalf and still being within the EU Single Market.

But, if anyone is waiting for the EU to make themselves acceptable to the UK then they are deluding themselves as much as Brexiteers did in the first place.

But Bob, what about when the German car makers knock on Frau Merkel’s door begging her to make a deal?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

But Bob, what about when the German car makers knock on Frau Merkel’s door begging her to make a deal?

If anything encapsulated the arrogance and delusion of the Brexit mindset, it was that notion.

 

[KPXBLN]

It was all about the wording. They were told that they will get special rights to stay, not realising that what they were meaning was that the host country would let them apply for citizenship and lose rights to the UK system.

Strangely, none of them asked the question before flying back to the UK to vote for it.

To be fair, if these idiots (the Brexit voters who had the house in Italy) had been properly living in Italy - registered address there, paying whatever taxes and social security obligations applied to them etc - before Brexit actually finally happened, they would have been able to stay without getting citizenship. This is the position I’m in in Germany- I have a (renewable) 10 year residence permit. I haven’t read the article but I’m guessing their problem is they thought they could move to Italy to retire after Brexit and found themselves liable to get a visa which they are not rich/high-skilled/young enough to qualify for.