Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

Started by Josquius, February 20, 2016, 07:46:34 AM

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How would you vote on Britain remaining in the EU?

British- Remain
12 (12%)
British - Leave
7 (7%)
Other European - Remain
21 (21%)
Other European - Leave
6 (6%)
ROTW - Remain
34 (34%)
ROTW - Leave
20 (20%)

Total Members Voted: 98

Richard Hakluyt

It turns out that we could have kept the blue passport anyway, according to the BBC :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42443253

The old passports used to be larger and less flimsy, with hardcovers and certain details entered in pen and ink by a civil servant  :bowler:

The pressure behind switching to the more recent format apparently came from the USA; to keep the visa-waiver it was necessary to adopt their standards. Meanwhile their standards were changed in preparation for the electronic passports now being phased in.

The whole story can be seen as a parable I think. The UK is sovereign and could have designed the passport how it willed; but, for reasons of convenience conformed to standards that may have been set by others. So it goes with so many things; a sovereign country can ignore all these things of course, but it would be very inconvenient and impoverishing.

Iormlund

I doubt most people who voted Yes understand  just how convenient having a EU passport is when traveling around Europe. My girlfriend was really pissed when we came back from Egypt and she realized how greener the grass is at the other side. Instead of spending two hours on a queue and having our luggage checked we spent less than a minute on the fast lane and I said two words to the gendarme at customs.

Now think on the impact on British goods after Brexit enters into effect...

The Brain

Have the most relevant countries started on the border infrastructure that will be needed?
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Zanza

Why would they? Davis has guaranteed us that trade will be frictionless and without additional physical infrastructure.

The Larch

I would say that, of all the issues orbiting around Brexit, I've always found the colour of the passport to be the most dumbfounding and irrelevant of them. How can such a thing be a relevant topic of discussion?

garbon

Quote from: The Larch on December 23, 2017, 09:18:54 AM
I would say that, of all the issues orbiting around Brexit, I've always found the colour of the passport to be the most dumbfounding and irrelevant of them. How can such a thing be a relevant topic of discussion?

I think it is mainly a talking point because it is a fun one to make fun of brexitets about.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

celedhring

Quote from: garbon on December 23, 2017, 10:57:28 AM
I think it is mainly a talking point because it is a fun one to make fun of brexitets about.

Well, it seems the Tories do at least consider it red meat for Brexiteers.

QuoteTheresa May

@theresa_may
The UK passport is an expression of our independence and sovereignty – symbolising our citizenship of a proud, great nation. That's why we have announced that the iconic #bluepassport will return after we leave the European Union in 2019. https://www.conservatives.com/sharethefacts/2017/12/blue-passports ...

12:49 PM - Dec 22, 2017

Richard Hakluyt

I think it is mainly a strawman to mock brexiteers with. On the other hand if 0.5% of voters change their vote for a blue passport then their votes are cheaply bought.

garbon

Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on December 23, 2017, 11:11:13 AM
I think it is mainly a strawman to mock brexiteers with. On the other hand if 0.5% of voters change their vote for a blue passport then their votes are cheaply bought.


:yes:
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Razgovory

Sell your stock before October.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Josquius

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garbon

Quote from: Iormlund on December 23, 2017, 05:40:01 AM
I doubt most people who voted Yes understand  just how convenient having a EU passport is when traveling around Europe. My girlfriend was really pissed when we came back from Egypt and she realized how greener the grass is at the other side. Instead of spending two hours on a queue and having our luggage checked we spent less than a minute on the fast lane and I said two words to the gendarme at customs.

Now think on the impact on British goods after Brexit enters into effect...

Knock on wood but I've never had to spend more than 30 minutes waiting at passport control when traveling about Europe. And I think my longest time happened just once at Charles Dr Gaulle
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Josquius

Quote from: garbon on December 24, 2017, 08:40:26 AM
Quote from: Iormlund on December 23, 2017, 05:40:01 AM
I doubt most people who voted Yes understand  just how convenient having a EU passport is when traveling around Europe. My girlfriend was really pissed when we came back from Egypt and she realized how greener the grass is at the other side. Instead of spending two hours on a queue and having our luggage checked we spent less than a minute on the fast lane and I said two words to the gendarme at customs.

Now think on the impact on British goods after Brexit enters into effect...

Knock on wood but I've never had to spend more than 30 minutes waiting at passport control when traveling about Europe. And I think my longest time happened just once at Charles Dr Gaulle

Being on a plane full of Brits and having the non-European line just between yourself and a Chinese couple probably helps no?
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mongers


Quote
Alex William
@AlexoWah    Dec 23

My mother, a Leave voter, has just received an Irish passport, thanks to her grandmother's country of birth, in order to maintain her EU citizenship, having helped to take away mine. My rage knows no bounds.


Sums up some of the Brexiters quiet well.
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

grumbler

Quote from: mongers on December 27, 2017, 04:46:03 PM

Quote
Alex William
@AlexoWah    Dec 23

My mother, a Leave voter, has just received an Irish passport, thanks to her grandmother's country of birth, in order to maintain her EU citizenship, having helped to take away mine. My rage knows no bounds.


Sums up some of the Brexiters quiet well.

I don't think Alex William is a Brexiter, based on his writing.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!