Re: Oh dear, the EU is not having all its own way.
Originally Posted by
Julie1962
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I started a thread a few days ago asking why people left the uk, I was surprised no one actually disliked or hated uk, because from what flicker has said its like she hates uk and that was her reason to leave. It was uplifting to realise that's not the reason others have left. Loving uk as I do I was hoping others didn't hate it so much they'd leave us.
Julie I first left the UK "permanently" in 1996.
Why? Because I had been in schools either as a student or teacher for nearly 40 years and wanted to find out what life is like outside an academic environment. I had studied French for many years so France seemed to be the logical choice. Plus one of my teachers had whetted my appetite.
I found space, clean air, lower prices and lovely people. I found opportunity to rebuild a house, find a new activity among animals, experience life as a shepherd in the high Pyrenees, supermarkets that did not have a whole aisle dedicated to different shaped frozen chips but instead items from a wide variety of sources I had not been familiar with...Spain, the Basque country, etc. I found a lot of lovely people who came from a lot of lovely places and in fact count among my friends those from South Africa, Germany, the USA, Sweden and the UK.
I don't hate the UK!! What a silly notion. You can't hate a country. What can you hate? Landscape? Politics? People individually or in general (and how do you do that?) Their habits? culture? sports? Infrastructure and travel? The list goes on and on.
HOWEVER what I hate is the gullibility of enough Brits to cause the country to lose so much of what I like about it. You have in fact destroyed some of the very things I love about the UK...
Just today I was reading how the UK govt is seriously thinking of relaxing some environmental and labour protection so they can sell to the Arabs and African countries...less regulation equals a lower price.
Some have been saying it will be OK to introduce GM crops. Others that they don't mind eating hormone infested beef from the US.
In fact to introduce GM crop you have to exclude natural crops from 15 Km around because of pollen dispersal. That means a far lower yield of non GM crops which you will need if you still trade with the EU. The UK doesn't have the room.
Secondly the chemicals used on US animal rearing have been prevented from entering the EU market for very good reasons. But if there is such competition with UK animal products the US will clearly be sold for much less and the less well off will be forced to eat crap where the richer can afford "cleaner" meat. Now how does that help the average UK resident?
Whichever way you cut the cake, the standard of living for the less well off will be lower. Imported food will be more expensive. Wages won't go up because you can't afford to make your products more expensive if you want to sell them in an open global market.
Without going into other areas of the UK economy what I have come to dislike so intensely is the utter lack of real discussion about the REAL honest impact of Brexit over and above the emotional crap you were told. We tried to warn you but were labelled as fear mongering and you all went deaf. THAT I hated. I hate the drip feed of the nationalistic newspapers that have been telling half truths and tales for 40 years. and finally I hate to the ends of the earth your desire to do Russia's bidding and weaken the west. To assume that the EU will collapse and that to see that as a good thing...exactly what Putin wants. I see that as treason through ignorance and that the worst perpetrators are Farage and Boris, along with the rest of that ship of fools.
Brexit has all but ruined the UK and her wonderful growth and being first among equals.
I went back to the UK in 2005 and stayed 5 years to see what the place was like. It was not hard to come back here and know I am here permanently. As Richard Dawkins said recently, the UK is full of nastiness. and here I still have all the things I loved about it when I came in 1996 plus the intelligence not to throw it away.