Re: Why do we hate the EU?

Let me say at the outset, I don't hate the EU.

The start of the union was the Common Market. That had some really stupid rules. Farmers were subsidised for certain commodities so produced vastly more of some things that there was a market for. Butter mountains, wine lakes etc. That went on for decades. Then were paid for NOT producing - the "set aside" policy. You couldn't make it up.

In my field:

Now we have standardised supply voltages. Except they are not. The tolerances were relaxed and the voltages stayed the same.

We have "harmonised" wire colours. Power here and elsewhere is usually three phase alternating current. AC. We had three nice distinct colours - red yellow and blue with black for neutral. Now it has to be brown, grey, black and blue for neutral. Why should this stupidity have been imposed on us? Why did we accept it? We don't have the same plugs and sockets. Why do we need the same wire colours? It's nonsense.

Yes, we are connected to France - but not by the three phase system. It's a cross channel high voltage direct current link. HVDC.

As an engineer I am used to SI units and can see the merit in their use. As can most of the world. But I still want to be able to go to the pub, have a pint of beer and an eight ounce sirloin (beef) steak.

Rant ranted.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

How quickly you forget that it was American troops that came to Hollands aid in the 2nd world war. Respect.

You also forget the millions who marched in Britain against Bush and Blair's plans for invasion under pretence. But then, that's all we could do when we had Teflon Tony Bliar, complete with matching Bush leather jacket, and his sofa cabinet making all the decisions at the time.

And yes, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the US barked, the motley crew we have would tuck their tails under them and meekly follow.

You will get no argument from me about this present lot.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

More power to local councils?

I thought the idea was to get rid of corruption

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

Just for the record, it was the canadians and polish forces who liberated the netherlands. American and brits took the shorter route to berlin.

Yes, millions marched against the plans bush and blair had concocted. It made no difference.
Last week a million or less marched against brexit. Will it make a difference? Do you think it should?
In the case of bush blair also, only afterwards the marchers were proven right. History has a tendency to repaet itself it seems.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

It was however the Canadians that liberated the Netherlands

Prince Bernhard displayed his gratitude by having Canadian flags painted onto his car

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

British troops were also involved as it was British Airborne troops and American Paras that took the bridges at Maas and Arnhem and don't forget it was on free British soil that the Canadians and Polish were able to gather, train, get their shit together then get across the channel to fight for Holland's freedom.
When Arnhem was lost it was finally liberated by the 49th British Infantry Division, 56th British Infantry division ( including the 2nd Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment) 146th British Infantry Division and The 147th British Infantry Division supported by the Canadian 2ndArmy..
The SAS were active behind enemy lines.

The South Eastern part of Holland was liberated by the British 2nd Army and French/American Airborne

In amongst the Canadians and British were the Polish, Czeckoslovak, American and other Allied forces.

All of this, at all times , was supported by the Royal Air Force, and casualties were suffered by all sides leberating Holland

Trying to diminish the UK's contribution to the liberation of the whole of Europe is a particularly insidious and nasty manifestation of anti-British prejudice.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

As this is not an anti-brexit thread, I am happy to post.

Without repeating other posters reasons for hating the EU, (all of which I agree with),

Some other reasons I hate the EU is the sheer extravagant waste, the continuing corruption, and the unaccountability of those in charge, to waste European taxpayers money on ridiculous things as those below.

Wasteful travel - The complete farce of the travelling circus.
The EU can only meet in full session in Strasbourg, France, one week a month, this means the whole lot - MEP’s, support staff, lobbyists, journalist and everyone else,
10,000 in all - have to travel for 5 hours to Strasbourg, just to salve France’s vanity and pride in being known as one of the founding members.


I guess this came from the famous Barclay brother billionaire owned Telegraph. They have to meet somewhere. 10,000 really?



Ridiculous Over- Regulation - I will never forget when Brussels set guidelines that bananas should be “free from malformation or abnormal curvature”. Those of us who wanted to leave, soon made it perfectly clear that the British could decide for ourselves how bent our bananas could be.


This claim by Boris Johnson was debunked ages ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...us-in-cornwall

By the way, when you order your bunches of bananas I would have thought they should fit together in the box? Or do you prefer mis-shapes?

Do you really hate the EU because of this???

Lack of accountability - unlike any other democracy, all big decisions in the EU are decided behind closed doors. They make decisions that affect us all, then announce their decisions later, without us ever knowing who it was that made that decision because of the secrecy involved in the decision making.


Do we have televised cabinet meetings in the UK? Thought not.

Ignoring rejection from the voters - The EU is devious. It just absorbs ballot-box defeats then gets the same result through other means.
Remember when France and the Netherlands rejected an EU constitution in 2005? The EU leaders came back 2 years later with what was called the “Lisbon Treaty” which had many of the same changes as the rejected EU constitution, but now gained through a different legal path that meant they didn't even have to ask the voters first.

Ridiculous cost of Translating. - The wasteful way the EU translates nearly everything it does into 24 official languages. Talk about a wasteful use of resources! Every single EU document is translated into every language. All high-level meetings are the same. The EU employs 1,750 linguists, 600 full-time interpreters and 3,000 freelancers..


This is more Daily Telegraph right?


And finally, Unnecessary bureaucracy - The sheer waste because of the need to dream up new cabinet positions to match the number of new members. So instead of the normal one or maybe two commissioners to cover these,, the EU has one commission for international cooperation and development, another for trade, another for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, another for economic and financial affairs, and yet another for internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and small and medium businesses.

The EU is like a runaway bus, awash with money that is not theirs to squander, but spent as though it grows on trees.

(figures for translating and bureaucracy - Washington Post.)



A lot of this is coming from the press mentioned by James Obrien at the start of the thread.


Can you explain why all the other members haven't objected and tried to leave?

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

We are already a sovereign nation. We set our own tax rules. I'm not sure what it is you want us to do that the EU are stopping? Our contribution to EU is below...

Top Contributing Countries. Germany is the largest contributor to the EU, accounting for 21.11% of the budget. France (16.44%), Italy (13.64%), the United Kingdom (13.05%), and Spain (8.51%) are the other top contributors. These five countries accounted for approximately 70% of the 2016 EU budget.6 Feb 2019


Data from Statista.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

The only way to get rid of corruption is to have transparency and effective deterrents. Why not have all the accounts on the internet?


The idea of pushing more power to the councils is that hopefully our people will become more democratically engaged and the focus will be more about real local issues not just showboating MPs.

Re: Why do we hate the EU?

Totally agree about the set aside payments. Needs to change and we should help it change.

I guess standardised colours is a safety consideration. If I were trained to wire up a plug in UK then I might get the wrong wires when doing it on holiday in France?

I guess the DC link is to save on AC losses or maybe the French grid is not synchronised with ours? Surely there's a reason for this?

The EU is not stopping you from ordering a pint as far as I know. I know if they only have bottles then you want 500cc

Regarding weights, I guess I am mostly into SI units now but I'm sure most pubs would know 1/2 lb if you asked.