Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Ed Anger]

Like increased smug.

[MadImmortalMan]

And the ability to travel Europe with a maple leaf on your hat so nobody starts yelling at you about George Bush.

[crazy canuck]

Like increased smug.

Naw even if we broke away from the rest of Canada we would still be superior to the US in every respect.

[crazy canuck]

And the ability to travel Europe with a maple leaf on your hat so nobody starts yelling at you about George Bush.

Naw, people can pretty much tell from the way we act that we are not Americans.  The Maple Leaf is mainly to keep Americans away.

[Josquius]

The UK's population has no direct vote on its Prime Minister either. Or Parliament, for that matter.

As for immigration, those 300k include non-EU nationals, which make a big percentage of the total. There are more people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jamaica, South Africa or Kenya than there are Spaniards in the UK. Is the EU also to blame for this? Will this madness stop once powers are brought back to Westminster?

Yes.
There's not one period where EU nationals have outnumbered non EU nationals.
Usually it's running at least 50k more.

[Syt]

I'm sure that if Britain were to leave the EU, politicians on both sides would set up deals to ensure that businesses are impacted as little as possible by it.

[Martinus]

I'm sure that if Britain were to leave the EU, politicians on both sides would set up deals to ensure that businesses are impacted as little as possible by it.

Yeah, I'm sure politicians will always do the smart, rational thing...

[Duque de Bragança]

French economy minister sends double Brexit warning to UK

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c669fd4-e054-11e5-9217-6ae3733a2cd1.html

Jungle from Calais to Dover? Maybe, but bankers would go somewhere else than Macron says, I think.
Context, Macron, not named after some Decepticon, is the pro-free market minister of Economy of Hollande's "socialist" gvt, from ENA and then worked for a while at Rotschild bank. Macron is also known for marrying his French and Theater teacher 20 years older than him. The Anglo-French summit mentioned in the article is taking place in Macron's home city, Amiens. Yes, where Napoleon signed a short-lived treaty with the UK. 

France would relocate its migrant camp from Calais to Britain and roll out "a red carpet" for bankers fleeing London if the UK leaves the EU, according to Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister.
Speaking ahead of an Anglo-French summit, Mr Macron said the bilateral relationship could change abruptly in the event of a Brexit, including the creation of new obstacles to trade between the two countries.

Mr Macron said that Brexit could scupper a bilateral deal with France, known as the Le Touquet agreement, that allows Britain to carry out border controls — and keep unwanted migrants — on the French side of the Channel.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he also said he expected financial services workers in London to relocate to France once their institutions lost the "passport" rights that allow them to operate across the EU.
"The day this relationship unravels, migrants will no longer be in Calais and the financial passport would work less well," Mr Macron said.
Echoing David Cameron's invitation to French companies to relocate across the Channel when France raised taxes in 2012, Mr Macron said: "If I were to reason like those who roll out red carpets, I would say we might have some repatriations from the City of London."
Mr Macron warned that Britain would lose full access to the single market if it left the EU. "People deciding to leave the single market will not be able to secure the same terms."
He added that the EU's "collective energy would be spent on unwinding existing links, not re-creating new ones" if British voters rejected membership.
Mr Cameron was accused by Tory Eurosceptics of scaremongering when he said the Calais "Jungle" camp could move across the Channel. Now a leading French minister has confirmed it could happen.
The prime minister is working with the French government, including President François Hollande, to co-ordinate a message aimed at persuading British voters they are safer within the EU.
Meeting in Amiens in northern France on Thursday, Mr Cameron and Mr Hollande will say that the "EU gives greater security and greater capacity to project power". They will commit to a "relentless" battle against terrorism.

The French economy minister warns that Brexit is an ill-conceived notion that threatens untold harm
The two leaders will agree to a joint £1.5bn investment in a new phase of development for a military drone as well as agreeing a further exchange of information to combat terrorist attacks.
Pressure is mounting on the French government to prevent thousands of refugees fleeing wars and poverty from setting up base in makeshift camps before attempting to cross the Channel to the UK. French authorities began dismantling part of the so-called jungle this week, relocating migrants in nearby shipping containers.
Mr Macron said the EU as a whole would be weakened as a military, diplomatic and economic powerhouse if the UK left. But whatever the outcome of the British referendum in June, he said the EU would need to reignite its integration process because the Brexit debate would have durably hurt the bloc's unity. "The EU has no choice but to become a true military and diplomatic power, something it has been always reluctant to be, mostly by lack of ambition," he said.

Chief executives warn of security threat and risk of violence if Britain leaves EU
"If the UK decides to stay, we avoid the worst-case scenario but we find ourselves in a situation where the UK will demand the implementation of the new terms it has negotiated with Brussels. Other countries may be tempted to do the same," the minister said, pointing to the rise of anti-EU parties in France, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.
Since 2008, solidarity among EU members had been severely shaken by crises that did not originate in the bloc — the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the refugee crisis, said Mr Macron. But the solutions were through more risk sharing and co-operation, not a return to nationalistic policies.

"It's only at a European level that we can manage the sovereign debt risk or the banking risk," Mr Macron said. "The refugees crisis shows we can't be isolated from the world's geopolitical troubles. It's true that the handling of this crisis is appalling. But the response can only be a European one, not a national one, with a co-ordinated diplomacy and border controls."
Mr Macron refused to blame Germany for acting unilaterally on refugees and energy, saying: "We could say the same of France about other matters."
Brussels, however, is failing to protect European industries and jobs, he said. "Steelmaking is emblematic of this naivety: we ask our companies to restructure, we ask employees to work more for less money because there is overproduction but then we're unable to defend them from cheaper Chinese imports," he said. "We are insane."

[Martinus]

Time to ditch the stupid old bint.

[CountDeMoney]

A British politician says Barack Obama is the most anti-British president ever
By Adam Taylor
washingtonpost.com
April 16

Ahead of President Obama's upcoming visit to the country, a prominent British politician has dubbed the American leader the most "anti-British" U.S. president in history.

"Mercifully, this American president, who is the most anti-British American president there has ever been, won't be in office for much longer, and I hope will be replaced by somebody rather more sensible when it comes to trading relationships with this country," Nigel Farage said Friday, according to Britain's Press Association.

That's quite the bold statement. It's also almost certainly untrue (to give just one example, George Washington actively fought against British rule during the American Revolutionary War, almost certainly making him a better contender for the title).

So why exactly did Farage say it?

Obama's views on Britain have been the subject of a remarkable scrutiny since he entered office. In 2009, the British press criticized him for apparently sending a bust of Sir Winston Churchill back to Britain, with some outlets even suggesting that it was revenge for Churchill's 1952 decision to crush the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya (the reality of the situation, The Washington Post's Fact Checker recently explained, was more complicated and less controversial). More recently, Obama's views on Britain became the topic of debate when a magazine profile appeared to show him criticizing the foreign policy decisions of David Cameron.

Underlying these controversies was a growing sense from both sides of the Atlantic that maybe the "special relationship" that had existed between the United States and Britain since World War II was on the rocks. Unlike many other American leaders who were clearly Anglophiles, Obama appeared to have no special affection for Britain, favoring rising powers to former colonial empires. Personally, he has always seemed more swayed by the technocratic skills of someone like Angela Merkel than the privileged charm of Cameron.

(To be fair, this is somewhat a two-way street. Cameron himself has often seemed more interested in courting rising giants like India and China than standing closely at America's side.)

Despite this, Farage's comments are likely motivated by something more immediate. As leader of the upstart Ukip party, Farage is one of the key politicians in the campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union. Tellingly, he made his comment about Obama as he protested a pro-E.U. leaflet sent out by the government recently. Britain is due to hold a nationwide "Brexit" referendum on membership in the E.U. this summer, and the U.S. president has already come out in support of Britain remaining in the E.U.

Tony McCulloch, a senior fellow in North American studies at University College London and an expert on the special relationship, says that he sees no real substance to Farage's comment. "Mr. Farage is using any argument he can think of to support the 'Brexit' campaign and, of course, Obama – like all previous U.S. presidents since JFK – strongly favours Britain's membership of the European community," he explains in an e-mail.

This annoyance at Obama's public stance on the Brexit vote isn't limited to Farage. London Mayor Boris Johnson, a man who has a good chance at being prime minister himself someday, has called it "outrageous hypocrisy." And despite concern over the supposed demise of the special relationship, it may be the American president's popularity in Britain that draws so much ire: A poll conducted by Pew last year found that 76 percent of Brits felt confidence in Obama to do the right thing in global affairs.

[garbon]

And we care what Farage had to say?

[CountDeMoney]

And we care what Farage had to say?

What, now that you're overseas you get to be cunty for two nations, Tinkerbell?  Fuck you, you fucking hack.

[garbon]

And we care what Farage had to say?

What, now that you're overseas you get to be cunty for two nations, Tinkerbell?  Fuck you, you fucking hack.

Actually it is just that Farage is a ridiculous individual who leads a ridiculous party. I guess he views this vote as another chance to vindicate himself after voters rejected him?

[Martinus]

And we care what Farage had to say?

What, now that you're overseas you get to be cunty for two nations, Tinkerbell?  Fuck you, you fucking hack.

Actually it is just that Farage is a ridiculous individual who leads a ridiculous party. I guess he views this vote as another chance to vindicate himself after voters rejected him?

Well, Boris is also quoted saying something similar and yes he is also a ridiculous individual, but with much more political clout.

[CountDeMoney]

And we care what Farage had to say?

What, now that you're overseas you get to be cunty for two nations, Tinkerbell?  Fuck you, you fucking hack.

Actually it is just that Farage is a ridiculous individual who leads a ridiculous party. I guess he views this vote as another chance to vindicate himself after voters rejected him?

That response had approximately 60% less cuntitude than your first unnecessarily cuntish response.  Thank you for actively attempting to reduce your cuntness.