Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Folks, you’re giving me ONS and EU stats. It’s why the government were able to drag you into the EU, wreck the economy and tell you Brown was the greatest Chancellor in history. You left out, Britain is booming, people are rushing to invest and high street businesses are confident.

The UK unemployment rate is under 5%? Yet The Guardian estimate 33% have been in poverty in the last decade and food banks are booming, yet the ONS state the UK has the lowest rate of poverty since 2008? Walk down your local high street, or drive around your local council estates and see the devastation. The EU tell you that European unemployment is around 10%, but don’t mention the Spanish youth unemployment is 43.9 in 2016 (Statista). The US also play the same statistics game, unemployment at around 5% and yet 46 million on food stamps.

You mention China a lot, so let me give you a different perspective away from the BBC and the Daily Mail.

There are no ‘gang masters’ here to exploit the destitute farm labourer immigrants. There is a minimum wage and it’s a criminal offence to go under it. Sure, you’ll find the odd sweat shop in the big cities, but when they’re caught, they suffer. Most of the sweatshops are in places like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

I pay 10% tax, no VAT, no add-ons. I smoke (shame) and a packet of English type ciggies cost the equivalent of 95p, tax paid. I get electric free, but some pay around £10 a month. A bus journey anywhere within the city limits is a flat 10p. A basic staple meal of rice or potatoes, lamb and veg at a café type place is around 30p. You can’t compare the East with the west. Elderly people are not mugged here, they don’t get abandoned in care homes (it’s the law that children look after their parents) and tens of thousands of elderly don’t die each year of hypothermia either.

Now, you won’t see that in the daily rags, but you’ll be told how good you have it, as the political elite rob your pensions, cut back on your health care and tell you how great things are. Yes, there is poverty in China, but it’s not 33%. China is estimated to have 60% middle class by around 2030. I’ve lived in the UK the same as you, but the difference between us is I’ve also lived in China and write my posts from experience, not the gullibility of mass media propaganda.

Just to jolly it up, Brown, Blair and half the bankers in the UK would have faced a firing squad in China, literally. Had to get that off my chest, for those who get their information from the government I shake my head folks they have taken you to the cleaners in the UK and you don’t even realise it..

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Hi

Yes Barry, but we still need to keep an eye on the money.

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Yes we do, but not to the exclusion of everything else.

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Yes, I’ll agree with that. Bring back the Nation States and stop the globalisation, sans borders. The EU was an ideological experiment of multiculturalism, diversity and equality, which went badly wrong, the same as it did in many countries in the 20th century.

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

I agree Muddy I don't buy cheap stuff from china, 'buy cheap buy twice' as they say. I buy as much as I can of goods made in this country , some of my clothes are 20 years old more recent ones courtesy of Ebay.

Unfortunately there are a lot of doom merchants some of whom don't actually live here who can't wait to talk this country down. Maybe they are not made of the stern stuff of which we are made and wouldn't last 10 minutes if they had to cope with a bit of austerirty

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Hint taken Meg.

I spent 11 years in the Forces (inc Northern Ireland and BAOR) while you were buying clothes on ebay - I still carry the physical scars. When is the last time you faced petrol bombs, Meg? Later, I travelled and lived in places that you’ve never heard of and didn’t need the welfare state to hold my hand. I managed because I had something you’ve never had; self-reliance and self-determination.

I tell you like it is Meg and not the fantasy of growing tulips and reading the Daily Mail.
Stern stuff my backside!

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Hi

Poverty and austerity are defined in many different ways.

We do not need hugely expensive iPhones for a start, we do not need very expensive mobile contracts so that we can spend all day on Facebook or Twitter.

These are luxuries, not essentials.

I buy potatoes and make my own oven chips at a fraction of the price, the list is huge.

We do not need all these things, we are not poor without them, just the victims of advertising.

If you have the money and choose to spend it on these things, good for you, however not to have them does not mean that you are living in poverty.

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Not petrol bombs granted Asia but I left home at 15 to make my own way in the world , lived through the IRA mainland campaign and if we are having a 'my dad is better than your dad' type discussion I can tell you I am the widow of a soldier who was injured while serving in Northern Ireland an injury which resulted in damage to his brain causing him to have a brain haemorrhage when our baby was 3 weeks old and leaving him partially paralysed for the 6 years he survived .

My husband served in the army for 21 years including in the Korean war (he was one of the youngest subalterns there) and being an expert in his field was seconded to various organisations to develop defence equipment. This involved doing trials work in inhospitable and dangerous places, I was not allowed to know where he was half the time and there was no certainty he would return. I knew as a result of this work the lives of many other soldiers would be saved so I bit my lip and got on with it.

Since my husband died leaving me penniless with a young child I worked hard at one stage doing 5 jobs to keep us and put my son throght university. He is now a very successful entrepreneur.
So I don't think I need any lectures in self-reliance and self-determination thanks Asia .

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

I agree entirely Gibbs it is nice to have these things but they are not necessities we can manage without them if we have to.

Re: BREXIT: The Facts Behind EU Propaganda

Yes we all had it hard, not many silver spoons around in the area I spent my youth in either. Don’t tell me what others have done in a cosseted welfare state. You’re the one who implied I personally couldn’t face austerity, not my dad, or your relatives. I wonder why you chose to make this personal, or as someone pointed out, you’ll learn to separate the wheat from the chaff?

I must say, you don’t come across as friendly, at all. Concentrate on the thread and not the poster? Should a newcomer be having to say that? Within a few days, this first thread has 13 pages, 126 replies, nearly two thousand views and top of the hottest threads this week. Not bad for someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about?