Politics, politics, politics (so long and thanks for all the fish)

[SpurMeUp]

 

[Rorschach]

I know quite a few people from the South and not a single one of them wants their taxes to pay for NI.

Certainly the Rep. of Ireland cannot afford to take on NI in one fell swoop, this is true. But on an ideological level, a united Ireland is something that all Irish people south of the border want and I guess 50% north too. Most will be willing to suffer the cost of if it is not too onerous, and the EU and UK will row in and soften the blow I would guess.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Spending it on a state school or hospital is committing to continue throwing money at it in perpetuity. There are few worse things we could do with the money.

Rebuild an existing hospital or school then! Buil a farking bridge over the thames and plant some bushes on it. Plant a million trees around the UK. Don't tinkle away 4.2b on nothing, for nothing, with no benifit to our nation. Brexit has broken our parliment. Is damaging our economy (see latest investment data) and is wasting all our time. There is only one solution - let the people decide with a leave option outlined. The sooner we get to this the better.

 

[Rorschach]

With the insular press getting so caught up in calling this May's deal, people are forgetting it's it's actually the EU's deal that parliament is rejecting as not good enough.

This is the negotiation.

Very true. I would not characterise it as a negotiation though.

 

[scaramanga]

Rebuild an existing hospital or school then! Buil a farking bridge over the thames and plant some bushes on it. Plant a million trees around the UK. Don't tinkle away 4.2b on nothing, for nothing, with no benifit to our nation. Brexit has broken our parliment. Is damaging our economy (see latest investment data) and is wasting all our time. There is only one solution - let the people decide with a leave option outlined. The sooner we get to this the better.

Most govt spending is just tinkling it away.

With the freedom to use competitive tax rates, the economy could recover that in days.

 

[Baleforce]

Yes! The NHS is so inefficient for a variety of reasons.

Mainly that as it's "free" people use it when they don't really need to -- plus there's no real incentive to operate efficiently. How much did the database that was never used cost, £12 billion? No private company is wasting £12 billion on a database they don't use.

I have visited several hospitals in Spain (operation) and Hungary and the equipment and facilities was 5 star in both cases. In Spain was Sanitas and I felt like Gareth Bale.

This is done on a private plan for those in work (about £800 per year per family, taken from your taxes) or government paid to those on social benefits (with very slightly lower quality care)

FWIW the NHS also has one of the highest birth death rates of Western countries.

The problem is: from my understanding it's almost impossible/insanely expensive to switch over to a new system. Also everyone seems to love it for some reason.

Yes it has it’s problems, but surely it’s better to fix it than just turn it off?

Your Spain example sounds like a better run NHS.

 

[scaramanga]

Certainly the Rep. of Ireland cannot afford to take on NI in one fell swoop, this is true. But on an ideological level, a united Ireland is something that all Irish people south of the border want and I guess 50% north too. Most will be willing to suffer the cost of if it is not too onerous, and the EU and UK will row in and soften the blow I would guess.

Not our problem, not our money.

If the EU wants to avoid a border then fine, but they're paying.

 

[Parklaner81]

What an absolute utter clam that bloke is.

And I'm not all that keen on Francois either.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Gibraltar is nothing at all like Northern Ireland. This approach would just cause the EU to play hardball on everything. It is not worth it. It would also trigger a border poll which would pass 60/40 if recent polls are right, and start the break up of the UK. Scotland would probably follow suit.

Personally I would be glad to see the back of Scotland politically, the country is rather nice. But it has always been out of step with the important part of the union, the south of england.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

As an employer, I can't discriminate against employees who won't work overtime, I can't require them to work overtime, I can't require them to sign the waiver.

There are still limits to how much employees can work, even with the waiver.

Maybe not on the face of it you cant. But when I was running a courier warehouse for a couple of years I sure as hell made life difficult for the ones who did not.

 

[nayenezgani]

You lot are giving the US a real run for their money in the global embarrassment stakes. What a complete and utter shambles.

 

[Rorschach]

Not our problem, not our money.

If the EU wants to avoid a border then fine, but they're paying.

The UK will pay one way or another.

 

[SpurMeUp]

The UK will pay one way or another.

People who are unable (or unwilling) to see that, are dangerous; their delusions could severely damage the UK. Such people are not nationalists they are anarchists.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[Parklaner81]

As an employer, I can't discriminate against employees who won't work overtime, I can't require them to work overtime, I can't require them to sign the waiver.

There are still limits to how much employees can work, even with the waiver.

These are fairly gentle though in reality, aren't they? Don't they amount to essentially a night's sleep per day and one day off per week?

 

[elyid]

You lot are giving the US a real run for their money in the global embarrassment stakes. What a complete and utter shambles.

If we swapped Trump and May for a few weeks, it’s hard to say who would have the worst deal

 

[scaramanga]

These are fairly gentle though in reality, aren't they? Don't they amount to essentially a night's sleep per day and one day off per week?

Gentle is a judgement call. Let's not forget all the added admin created and the need to record everyone's hours, monitoring them constantly.

 

[Parklaner81]

Gentle is a judgement call. Let's not forget all the added admin created and the need to record everyone's hours, monitoring them constantly.

Definitely with you on that, and I can personally vouch for the headaches and other associated issues it can cause. I'd personally call this the bigger issue than the practical limits (which I think anyone would struggle to argue aren't reasonable), though obviously they go hand in hand. But that's just based on my own experience.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Definitely with you on that, and I can personally vouch for the headaches and other associated issues it can cause. I'd personally call this the bigger issue than the practical limits (which I think anyone would struggle to argue aren't reasonable), though obviously they go hand in hand. But that's just based on my own experience.

@scaramanga too, how do your HR dept pay people when they don't keep track of the hours they work?

To recap, Scara told us the EU stops the UK being competitive because of the working hours directive. It's obvious this is rubbish.

@elyid said the real reason he voted leave was the EU making laws. But couldn't name one that he didn't like, that affects him (El is masculine?) or us.

Then Scara said that £4.2b being spent on Brexit prep was okay because the money went back into the economy, and it didn't matter that we the people didn't get anything back from the spend.

No one can outline the positives of Brexit. We need to get rid of this nonsense and focus on voting in a UK government who can deliver some of the things Brexit voters - and the rest of us - want. Becuase Brexit sure as hell aint going to deliver.

 

[Parklaner81]

The EU will give the UK every opportunity to avoid the no deal route. Needless to say, it is not in their interest that no deal happens, but the decision to go to straight to no deal is still within the UK's purview. All they have to do is nothing in the next 2 weeks. The EU has shown the escape routes but can't force the UK to take one.

I know your opinion on this but it is a lose/lose IMO. There is no other way to view it from a trade perspective at least.

It might well be, I'm not claiming to know enough to make a fully informed judgement when all of the various factors are taken into consideration.

What I do find extremely frustrating though is that there's clearly a case to be made that, in political terms, no deal might have been a bigger gamble for the EU than for the UK - something that could/should have been used as leverage that might have resulted in a better deal than the one on the table (that nobody wants). Sadly though, May's UK opponents took it upon themselves to do the EU's negotiating for them whenever she attempted to use this to gain an advantage. It really is no wonder at all that we've ended up in the position we have.

 

[scaramanga]

@scaramanga too, how do your HR dept pay people when they don't keep track of the hours they work?

We don't pay people in 17 week cycles

To recap, Scara told us the EU stops the UK being competitive because of the working hours directive. It's obvious this is rubbish.

One of the UK's best advantages over the likes of France is that they're so workshy. They've managed to build the legislation to ensure we can't compete with our advantage.

.

Then Scara said that £4.2b being spent on Brexit prep was okay because the money went back into the economy, and it didn't matter that we the people didn't get anything back from the spend.

That's still not how money works.

Who do you think the government spent that money with? Mainly people in this country, I suspect. They are a part of the economy and then they'll spend money in the economy - almost certainly more efficiently than the government will.