TheCat

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TheCat Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Fair comment. > > > > The US innovates, Asia duplicates and Europe > > regulates. > > > > As the old business idiot goes. > > > > Let's hope we try for something in the middle > of > > some of those.... > > Shows how old I am - UK was the innovative one > when I was young and the US took those ideas and > scaled them up. > > "Made in Japan" was ridiculed as cheap LOL Ha...I may have exaggerated when I labelled it an 'old' idiom....let's call it middle-aged....perhaps about 47 year old;)....

Fair comment. The US innovates, Asia duplicates and Europe regulates. As the old business idiot goes. Let's hope we try for something in the middle of some of those....

Well, Happy New Year All. f nothing else, just as many leavers blamed anything bad on the EU for many years, at least remainers can now blame anything bad that happens on the fact that we have now left. For, leavers they can claim positive things(or at least any lack of catastrophe) becuase of brexit, without being told 'we haven't left yet'. We watch and wait....till someone says 'I told you so'.....

legalalien Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > As someone who grew up outside the EU and now > lives here (and who travelled about a bit in my > youth / studied at a UK uni), I think we need to > stop talking ourselves into the idea of a > "catastrophic loss of opportunities for > youngsters" thing. Young people from non-EU > countries do plenty of travelling, studying and > working abroad both within and outside the EU. As > it stands, I read somewhere the other day that > more UK students study at tertiary level in the US > plus Australia, than in the EU countries combined. > Yes, there might be a few more forms to fill, but > there will still be opportunities out there... Agreed. This is almost verbatim what I said on another thread..the stats I quoted in that post showed that more UK citizens live in australia alone than in the entire EU combined. Furthermore, the EU is not 'cutoff' (covid restrictions aside), it is just a little more challenging. This wailing loss of opportunity is just hysteria. Annoyance that it's slightly more tricky, I'll concede...but opportunity lost, not so much.

Wrong thread I think Mal. Hitting those bubble already?:)

My comment was a pop at the article you posted. Which was contrived and poor. My criticism of it stands...as I said, Im sure I could find you an article with random quotes supporting just about anything. I have little interest in revisiting what various people think about whether we should have left or remained. We've been down this road before, more than a few times....it's now the definition of Moot....

Such a poor argument..."You're wrong becuase I can quote people who also disagree with you". Your position has much stronger arguments than this, I'd recommend stop wasting your effort with this strategy. In anycase...here's 2 relevant hits from just 10 seconds of googling.... (To be clear I don't necessarily support what's said in these articles, just highlighting how easy it is to find others who support almost any view).... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/02/support-for-eurosceptic-parties-doubles-two-decades-across-eu And from the Telegraph (pasted from behind payroll)..... The UK's deal with Europe is better than ours,' says Norway's leading party The Centre Party's leader called for a review of Norway's EEA status The Brexit deal negotiated by Lord Frost avoids tariffs on goods The Brexit deal negotiated by Lord Frost avoids tariffs on goods CREDIT: BLOOMBERG Richard Orange, Malmo 29 DECEMBER 2020 ? 5:27 PM The party leading the polls in Norway has hailed the Brexit trade deal as "a better agreement" than the one that governs Norway's relations with the European Union, saying the UK has won "more freedom and more independence". Marit Arnstad, parliamentary leader of the Centre Party, said in an interview on Tuesday that the UK had shown Norway could get a better deal than what it currently has as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA). "From my point of view, the British have a better agreement than the EEA," she told the left-wing Klassekampen newspaper. "They gain access to the internal market and common trade, which is desirable, but they do not have to be part of the dynamic regulatory development that places strong limits on individual countries' national policies." The former agrarian party last month overtook the Norwegian Labour and Conservative parties in the polls, suggesting it will have a significant role after September's general election. The party's leader, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, has taken the broadly left-of-centre party in a sharply populist direction, sharpening its opposition to ties with the European Union, and railing against centralisation from Oslo. Ms Arnstad said that after seeing the UK's success, her party would renew its calls for a public inquiry into possible changes to EEA membership. "I think it highlights the need to study alternatives to the EEA," she said. "The most difficult thing for Norway is that we are constrained in areas of national politics, and that is happening in more and more areas. The British have now taken back these powers, and that is extremely interesting." The Centre Party's call for an inquiry is backed by the Socialist Left Party, with Heming Olaussen, head of the party's EEA committee, telling Klassekampen that the UK's deal was superior. "The British have been released from the European Court of Justice. They are no longer subject to EU supremacy and must not accept any EU legislation in the future as we have to," he said. "This agreement... safeguards national sovereignty in a better way than the EEA does for us." Even after the Centre Party's recent surge in the polls, however, eurosceptic parties in Norway still lack a parliamentary majority. Both Labour and the Conservatives are historically pro-EU, and Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg argued earlier this month that the UK's Brexit struggles should serve as a warning to Norwegian eurosceptics. "Political parties in Norway that think it is a good idea to leave the EEA because we can negotiate new, better agreements should look more closely across the North Sea," she said.

Sephiroth Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Boris Johnson and UK not seen as joke by anyone > but elitist remainers is it? > > "Britain 'taken over by gamblers, liars, clowns > and their cheerleaders'" > > > > https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/31/t > he-view-from-europe-uk-taken-over-by-gamblers-liar > s-clowns-and-their-cheerleaders Come on mate, you can do better than this. What a weak piece of 'journalism' This is the definition of contrived. You could cobble together a few quotes from thinktanks and academics to support almost any position on any issue you care to name.

KidKruger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I usually go to bed around 2-3am, so BAU for me as > far as staying-up goes. > Bed by 12 would feel like I?ve been naughty. > Since having kids, going out for a big one on NYE > is a bit of an ex-pastime anyway ! Impressive. Sounds like your kids aren't getting you out of bed at 6am most days....lucky f@ker:)

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TheCat Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I know 'red tape' will never allow it to > > happen...but I wonder if many of our closed > pubs > > across the nation could be used as venues for > > vaccine rollout? > > > 341326338 Brewdog have got me on retainer:)

I know 'red tape' will never allow it to happen...but I wonder if many of our closed pubs across the nation could be used as venues for vaccine rollout? They are local...they all have significant refrigeration capacity, and if the government needs to pay venue hire for 'football stadium's then I'm sure most would prefer that to go to assist closed businesses.... Not every pub would be suitable,...and logistics of getting a few health professionals to each one would be tricky. But is it worth exploring? Closed schools is another idea.....

natty01295 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anyone worried about BREXIT, please tell us your > concerns, shopping cost, > prices, travel, pets, other concerns, unemployment > anything Is this thread really nessesary??? Natty if you want an answer to your questions, there's circa 40pages of edf worries about brexit on the EU trade talks thread. There was was also another brexit thread with more pages that went on for 3 odd years before that. This has been done to death on this forum. No one is going to say anything new at thi stage, they're just going to wind themselves up into a lather....

Given the inability to go out, or have people over; as well as the fact that there are not even any fireworks this year....who's actually planning on staying up until midnight? Going to bed early also means the annus horribilis that has been 2020 ends slightly sooner....So TheCat will be eschewing alcohol and curled up well before pumpkin hour....let's hope a barrage of backgarden fireworks in the area (left over from November?) don't disturb my slumber.....

> Sorry to break the unofficial EDF truce, but when > people spout bollox like that... > > *Picks up beer...* There was no EDF wide truce agreement. So there is no breach. It was more a bilateral BlahCat treaty. Seems appropriate given the increasing importance bilateral agreements will form going forward.

:)

What a nice way to close out a sh-tty year....with Blah Blah and myself in agreement on something:) There is indeed hope for us all!!

I'm no publishing expert, but have a lot of experience in analysing various types of businesses..So this may be corrected by someone with more specific sector knowledge!!.... As I understand publishers will usually print many more copies of books/magazines than they actually sell... I would assume the ratio of printing to sales will vary by title and the historical experiences of the publisher As far as I know there are 3 key volume numbers to be aware of... 1)printed copies 2) sales to bookstores/newsagents retailers 3) sales to end customers Obviously figure 1 is the one you need to determine variable cost base. Figures 2 and 3 will combine in a complicated fashion to give you revenue. Figure 2 will be also usually be larger than figure 3...and some retailers have right of return of unsold copies. Some will not. Hope that helps....

KidKruger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Nothing I?ve seen so far says anything to do with > vaccines will be well organised or even adequately > organised. > But yeah, we can hope based on ministerial > promises. > After all, it?s the only thing we?ve got. I agree.Surely now this a clear make or break for the government - and there really is nowhere to hide. Previously there has always seemed to be disagreement (within both the scientific and political communities) on lockdown versus test and trace versus herd immunity versus ocial distancing versus tiering etc etc - and this disagreement has been bourne out by the haphazard nature of policy and implementation. But surely now the objective is absolutley clear (and unlikely to have any alternative theory!)....I.e. Vaccinate as many as possible as quick as possible.... I agree that evidence thus far is less than positive. But surely now even these guys can't F this up???? (We all must hope!)

Let's assume that the govt pull it out the bag and manage to organise a massive logistics exercise and we get back to something approaching normality towards the end of spring (big if of course) That being the case, we will likely be well ahead of many of our nearest neighbours. If we are...do we close the borders? Do we initiate a government run 14 day quarantine for any arrivals? Would it simply not be required with 'herd immunity's being in place once critical vaccination level is reached? Surely we don't want to be vaccinating most of the local population, only to have arrivals from other regions to put that at risk? I ask the question in the context of enviously looking on at my friends and family in Australia - where the borders are closed and even aussie citizens returning are shepherded into security guarded quarantine hotels as soon as they touchdown. While it's easy to mock them a bit for shutting down half of Sydney becuase just 3 cases were detected just before xmas..it's this zero tolerance approach which has meant that life has basically been as per normal for quite some time down there....

Agree with that. Services still to be settled is a yawning gap. Also, within the context of this deal, seemingly we could move in lock-step with EU standards/state aid and continue tariff free trade. Or potentially deregulate and incentivise industries such robotics, fintech, AI etc....but there may be a price to pay, dependent on how much divergence/incentivisation there is..... I'm sure that will keep parliament (and the EDF!) Discussing this for quite some time yet....

The ERG folk will of course continue to agitate anti-EU sentiment. Just as ultra-remainers will do the opposite. Many on here object (rightfully in my mind) to 'shutup, you lost', so I can't imagine ultra brexiteers will not object to 'shutup, you won' if they feel they have something to say. And to be fair to both sides here, in thinking about the deal about to be passed, I believe it does provide flexibility to do some of the things that the ERG wants, but also provides the flexibility to do some more 'remainery' things (within the context of brexit overall of course). So this is not the 'end' of division by any stretch. Successive governments 'leave' or 'remain' bias will determine how this country acts and develops policiy within the boundaries of the new deal..we can still go in multiple directions here....So there will be pressure from either side for quite some time yet....

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So EU say we will get some normality by Autumn > 2021, Hancock last week said 2022. It's not > optimism either side of the channel > > "Matt Hancock is "confident" life will begin to > start returning to some semblance of normality by > "2022." " > > Not sure why Hancock sees it as 2022 - but that > means another year of restrictions > > https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-new > s/matt-hancock-confident-life-return-19514073 > > > Either way unless everybody stays in step it'll > mutate to something beyond the current vaccines - > and that means the rest of the world as well. Seems like Hancock has changed his tune this morning JohnL......headlines quoting him talking about a return to normal by spring following the oxford/astrazeneca approval....

In case anyone missed it...ERG folk aregoing to support the deal. So looks like most Tories will be voting along the same lines tomorrow... https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/tory-brexiteers-approve-boris-johnson-s-deal

I agree with your response to NeoR's post. I agree that his/her post was nonsense. I said as much in my original post above also. The conversation then seemed to move on to statistics analysis. I don't agree with your statement.... 'That is how you analyse statistics" That is my point.

Unfort. None of the statistical 'analysis' suggested above is in anyway useful unless you're just trying to manipulate numbers to support a pre-existing hypothesis. Single-variate correlation is is in no way a useful tool to add to this discussion (and that before we even consider this like auto-correlation). Least of all when the whole discussion is centre around causation....and we all know the old (and totally accurate) saying about correlation and causation. So single variant correlation and simple regression are favourite tools of people on the edges of both the right and left, as it allows them to seem like they are informed, and are backed by 'the numbers'....without taking any account for the mtlti-variate nature of most variable relationships. Lies. Damn lies and statistics....