keano77

Is TheCat confused with Australia?s participation in the European Song Contest? That?s a point, will we be banned from the contest if we leave?

I?m pleased to read you are not one of those offended TheCat. I was repeating what I heard on the BBC when a spokesperson for the3million was interviewed earlier today and was explaining some potential difficulties for EU citizens with the application process.

Dropping the fee was welcomed but what our EU friends are still annoyed about is that they have to apply not register. Applications could be refused. Post Windrush, you?d think the powers that be would know better.

JoeLeg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, so long as they pay to stay then it?s not > true. But as even JRM said this morning, that?s > grossly unfair and should not be happening. > > If they don?t pay, then by definition they won?t > have settled status and will have to leave at some > point. I think the point DR (and Mogg) is making > is that it?s a pretty dishonourable way of going > about things in terms of people who have lived and > paid taxes here, to tell them they have to stump > up the cost of staying if they want to. > ?65 may not be much to many people, but the > principle is what matters here. I don?t disagree with that JoeLeg. I?d prefer it wasn?t the case. However I had to take Red Devil to task about the way he worded his post in case the more susceptible Remainers on here believed the misinformation.

diable rouge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > From today, people who have lived in the UK > working and paying taxes, some for decades, some > having married UK citizens and having UK children, > are losing their right to stay here in their > homes, with their friends/families... That?s not true is it - naughty Red Devil

Like most people on here I have no idea where we?ll end up after this Brexit confusion. I suspect we?ll end up with a soft Brexit that will prompt the question why did we bother to vote for leave in the first place. What is interesting are the pictures of Michel Barnier in the papers and on telly since parliament rejected May?s deal. Rewind to the announcement that the UK and EU had reached a deal on leaving. Barnier held a press conference and strutted like a peacock. Great deal for the EU, four pillars not compromised. His reputation assured and his career on a trajectory. Contrast that with pictures of Barnier since Parliament rejected the deal. A worried man who is savvy enough to realise politics will now now step in to override his efforts. He realises his efforts over the past two years could be sacrificed for political expediency and he could end up looking like a patsy. That?s politics. Janus-faced. We live in exciting times

We?re not talking about nuts and bolts for the car industry here StraferJack, we?re talking about life-saving drugs in some instances. Even EU ?algorithms on legs? holding clip boards should resist their bureaucratic urges. Sounds like project fear version one million and one to me. Sorry NHS your meds for diabetes, pestilence and plague are still in the customs warehouse because Pierre hasn?t filed his tick box sheet in triplicate to confirm these pallets from GlaxoSmithKline are really from GlaxoSmithKline.

I still don?t quite understand StraferJack. Yes we will become a third country. But if we?re importing from the EU or the US or elsewhere checks are irrelevant. The EU pharmaceutical companies won?t be adulterating their own products. Checks only apply if we?re exporting to EU countries to their required standards. I?m sure if we bunged the US a few billion and knocked it off our EU bill they?re be whizzing us chlorinated aspirins by container ship load.

I?ve never looked into it but I don?t understand why there would be shortages of medicines. Do the EU gangsters control the supply, on some country-lines basis? Why can?t we buy them from elsewhere eg the US? The yanks pop pills until they?re coming out of their ears so should have plenty.

StraferJack ended his rant with ?...meaningless concepts like ...sovereignty...? Obviously not a student of political theory

Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek Finance Minister who appeared on Newsnight before Christmas, made the amusing point that no-one negotiates with the EU. They are tick box bureaucrats who colour paragraphs from red to amber to green. Algorithms on legs he called them.

I can lend you an abacus Rendel if you wish to correct your statistics. You might even find moving the beads around therapeutic as you appear to be in a bit of a mood.

Rendel wrote: ?...Is it that difficult? What I mean by those who voted leave comprising 35% of the adult population is that those who voted leave comprise 35% of the adult population...? The ?adult population? is a lazy use of words in this context. It includes those ineligible to vote at the time (EU citizens etc). Secondly on these figures 35% is incorrect United Kingdom European Union membership referendum Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? Location United Kingdom (including Gibraltar) Date 23 June 2016 Results Votes % Leave 17,410,742 51.89% Remain 16,141,241 48.11% Valid votes 33,551,983 99.92% Invalid or blank votes 25,359 0.08% Total votes 33,577,342 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 46,500,001 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum I make no comment on your other points which appear to have been written in a stressful frame of mind.

Jules-and-Boo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > RH - if 35% of the population voted Leave - what > was the % for Remain? Lower, clearly. > > So - neither are in the majority. Which means the > by default that the majority of people don't > actually care. I?m not quite sure what Rendel means by ?...the number who voted Leave are only 35% of the adult population...? But if we confine ourselves to registered voters, on my sums 72.21% actually voted. Of those 37.44% voted leave and 34.71% voted to remain I?m not sure what this clarification adds to the current impasse except perhaps to question the siren voices who claim large support for a second referendum.

Blah Blah said ?...compounded by the referendum not delivering a definitive result either way...? ????

You?re correct pinkladybird. Houses are not hermetically sealed. I don?t really know what to say except that we must all be doomed. There must be at least 30 vehicles a minute running up and down Lordship Lane between 8am and 10 pm and fumes from thousands of central heating boilers, gas fires and cookers 24-hours a day during the winter entering people?s homes although I don?t notice the smells. I suspect there isn?t a corner of the world where people don?t light real fires, from the Amazon to the Himalayas, it?s what makes us human.

What I don?t quite understand is how the OP?s house is smelling of smoke. Presumably she has a flat in a house and people using the communal entrance would allow smoke into the hallway etc but for it to permeate all the flats appears to be extraordinary unless her windows need attention. You?d think the lady?s chimney across the road was emitting similar amounts of smoke to a power station.

Now let me think ... if Remainers were to win* a so-called ?people?s vote? you would expect the decision to be honoured and implemented? * translation for Remainers: ?win? here means a majority decision, ie, a least one more than the losing vote tally

?They'd still breathe the same air and so have as much right to influence measures related to improving air quality as anyone else.? True. How many of them have ordered items online and have couriers in vans delivering them to work? How many companies are using couriers to send and receive documents. Most of the traffic in the CC is there to meet demand and supply services. They are not Sunday drivers. I wonder how many of that 59% would agree with a proposal to pay, say, a ?5 tax for every home delivery ordered online, from clothes to pizzas etc. And even if they did it probably wouldn?t make the slightest difference to air quality. Until all cars are fuelled by hydrogen things probably won?t improve.

I didn?t expect you to know the answer Rendel, it was an unfair question. My point still stands with these polls/surveys. We don?t know who answers the questions or why so they should be treated with caution. If the 59% in favour all rode bicycles, used public transport or commuted into London by train you?d have to question the result in favour of yet another money making racket using vehicle drivers as cash cows.

Of the 59% in favour you quote Rendel, how many owned and drove cars and were likely to be affected by the charge? Please tell.

I don?t know. You keep quoting dodgy statistics from dodgy polls. I?ve never met anyone who has answered pollsters questions (or admitted to it) so it begs the question as to who answers such questions and the reliability of the answers. Further you always quote figures to support your arguments that purport to show a majority in favour. Yet one of the main things the Brexit referendum showed is just under half the population do not understand, or refuse to accept, what a majority vote means in a democracy. Assuming your figure of 59% in favour of ULEZ in the CC has any merit whatsoever you might want to ask yourself why people are calling it Kahn?s poll tax (clue: ?12.50 per day for certain vehicles in addition to the congestion charge from British people, not just British Londoners, will help pay for a lot of EU propaganda

I did say I was generally okay with his message. To acknowledge that many EU citizens have made a valuable contribution and Britain (not just London) is open to industrious types is something I agree with. Unfortunately he confined it to EU citizens, ignoring many other nationalities. You seem to have difficulty grasping that Londoners are British on your distinctions above but never mind. Kahn is toast anyway and once his ULEZ scheme comes into force he?ll be dead man walking re the 2020 mayoral elections. Anyway, I wish everyone a very happy New Year. I fear we?ll be disagreeing soon enough when malevolent forces ratchet up project Brexit Betrayal

On your figures 40% of Londoners should demand a substantial council tax rebate if a Remainer mayor is misusing their hard-earned cash for dubious political purposes. I?m sure most of regional Britain would not be happy with Kahn?s sucking up to the EU being being representative of their views

You miss the point Rendel. When Auckland is the largest city to kick off the New Year celebrations, followed by Sydney, the celebrations represent The nations of New Zealand and Australia. They are not some parochial city event. The London celebrations are broadcast to, and watched by, the world. It is Britain being showcased to the world. It should not be used for political purposes to say to the world Britain is crapping itself, please can we stay in the EU.