Yes, finally a thread about what to do about improving things rather than moaning about what has happened!
Contrary to what "some" people on here may think about my political leaning, i knew Brexit wouldn't go well.
I knew there would be a price to pay. That things would go downhill, at least for a while.
However, this was more to do with the people in power. If you don't have a leader with big balls and strength, then it was never going to work. We didn't, so there is no surprise on my part.
People here like to split people into Brexiteers and Remoaners. I class myself as an Inbetweener!
I have never been a fan of the European Union. It is a mishmash of self-serving countries masquerading a some sort of family. But a pack is stronger than a lone wolf!
As a trading pact, i thought it was good if not ideal. Some of the workers rights and protection it afforded was great for example. We also got back a lot of the money put in back as subsidies, so that was never an issue. Immigration needed to be better controlled, not stopped.
I was a fan of us dumping the pound. If we was part of the Union, then that should have went.
But they had other aspirations, and the directions some wanted it to go was worrying.
Allowing some Countries into the Union that shouldn't really be, was only to assert control and dominance over them. Some of the EU leaders were toxic and had their own personal agendas.
So there were parts i liked and parts about the Union i didn't.
I was hoping a near miss with the vote might have been enough to wake everybody up, and for the Union to make changes for the better.
However, being self employed, i like risks and like a challenge. So my attitude since was be positive and try and make it work. Others just seem to want to moan.
I buy from all over the world, so buying from the EU is no different (paperwork wise). I was hoping for more trading agreements to be done by now. Covid seems to have stalled some of them. Changing leader every few months hasn't helped.
So as for a solution.
Re-joining doesn't seem viable at the moment. We have seen recently the self-serving vindictiveness of the EU in all it's glory.
I cannot see anything they have done to make it attractive to re-join. It would be a hard sell if it was going to be on worse terms than before. So like the Remoaners, they need to let it go and work constructively to find a solution for the future. Without EU reforms, it's never going to work.
So at least for now, we should adopt the US dollar, align ourselves with them, and fill in the Channel Tunnel...There you go simple! :)
I just wanted to say that it was very refreshing to see a post that recognises the reality of what the situation was before (and since) 2016 and the direction that the EU was (and is) hellbent on going - increasingly full integration - not just a trading bloc.
That is where the denizens that haunt this thread deceive themselves. They bang on pretty much exclusively about the negative impacts of leaving a trading bloc - but, before the referendum, the same people were denying categorically that there were any aims/direction towards increasingly full (including political) integration - just look how those aims has advanced in the last 7 years.
They deny what was clear - despite the EU setting out those aims very clearly in their published strategies - years before the referendum and updated on an ongoing basis since.
If the EU had remained the EEC - the trading bloc - that we joined then I strongly doubt there would have been any chance of a Leave vote - but the EU has been hijacked by politicians determined to implement the 'Jean Monet vision' of a United States of Europe. They inch ever closer to that - and now they are well past the point of no return.
You will hear how countries are queuing up to join - but where are these countries? Exclusively towards the east and of course they want to join!! They are pretty much impoverished and are promised serious investments (inducements) if they join.
Who is going to pay for that? The EU makes sure that the members, such as the UK used to be, pay for those inducements, and there is also the ever increasing debt mountain which is the elephant in the room that is never discussed on this thread. Increasingly Holland and other such nations are increasing their contributions and their share of debt liabilities - the UK would have been a prime contributor.
Countries like Greece and Italy 'toe the line' because the bail-outs they have received have been contingent on 'good behaviour'.
You will hear posters spouting on about 'opt-outs' and 'vetoes' - again conveniently ignoring that the EU was already well on a path to making such 'special conditions' impotent - the truth is inconvenient and not to be tolerated.
The blinkered people on this thread cannot allow themselves to consider the wider facts. They can only resort to shouting down any alternative views - crassly stating that people that do not conform are either racists or people who wish to live in some Britannia world of UK exceptionalism.
They cannot debate - only attack and ridicule.
I am sure that once I read beyond your excellent post - I will find to some degree you are attracting such attention from the pack for holding such views.
I do not post on this thread because there is no balance and the 'regular' posters seem to be able to be as extreme as they wish - while those with alternative views seem to disappear if they continue to dissent.
Anyway - I did not mean to make such a long post
I wish you well with your objectivity - although I strongly doubt your views will be tolerated and I expect that you will soon find a 'gang' of posters coming on to ridicule what you post - rather than debate it.
Good luck mate
