Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for an exit could have a significant impact on the outcome.
He will be a de facto leader of the Leave campaign and is a persuasive speaker.
I'd say Cameron's chances of winning a Stay vote, already behind in the polls, just got harder.

And maybe his leadership just got a bit rocky as well.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2016 at 6:18am:

Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for an exit could have a significant impact on the outcome. He will be a de facto leader of the Leave campaign and is a persuasive speaker. I'd say Cameron's chances of winning a Stay vote, already behind in the polls, just got harder. And maybe his leadership just got a bit rocky as well.

Please don't lie.  The stay vote was ahead in the polls by 3 points.  And given Boris will not campaign alongside the nutjobs it will be very interesting to see precisely what his influence will end up bringing the leave side. 

Guardian:

A new poll has suggested more Britons favour leaving the EU over staying in, with 45% supporting “Brexit” compared with 36% against, while a fifth remain undecided.

The YouGov poll for the Times was carried out in the two days after publication of an outline deal that David Cameron negotiated which could change the UK’s relationship with Brussels while keeping it within the European Union.

The poll suggested the number of voters wanting to quit had risen by three points on the previous week, the Times said.

Two polls in December indicated a closer race between the in and out camps, but there is an air of caution around published opinion polls in British politics after their failure to predict the 2015 general election result.

London mayor Boris Johnson has decided to throw in his hat on the side of those wanting to return Britain's long lost legal, political, and economic sovereignty back to the people of Britain.

Let's hope this channelling of Enoch Powell eventually goes way beyond cutting Britain loose from the International Socialists who run the European Parliament.

link

There are Muslim terrorists in Britain's jails who can't be deported because legal people living and working outside of the UK say it would be against their Human Rights to do so.

I hope & pray England's coming to the same space a lot of people in America are coming to, ie to turn the ship around from the socialist/collectivist/politically correct direction they're sailing in.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2016 at 9:55am:

I hope & pray England's coming to the same space a lot of people in America are coming to, ie to turn the ship around from the socialist/collectivist/politically correct direction they're sailing in.

Post of the Day

Congratulations, Bogey.

I'll be doing the boogie-woogie with Codsey-baby down at the Bingo Hall if sanity prevails and the public vote for political correctness to be dumped in favour of commonsense and rational thinking on national policy issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkoqZqxN2t8

Boris Johnson:

‘We have given so much to the world, in ideas and culture, but the most valuable British export and the one for which we are most famous is the one that is now increasingly in question: parliamentary democracy – the way the people express their power.

‘This is a once in a lifetime chance to vote for real change in Britain’s relations with Europe. This is the only opportunity we will ever have to show that we care about self-rule.


“A vote to Remain will be taken in Brussels as a green light for more federalism, and for the erosion of democracy ”

Later, in his newspaper article, Mr Johnson wrote that the EU ‘has morphed and grown in such a way as to be unrecognisable’.

He said the public were ‘enraged’ by inability of British politicians to control immigration. This alienation from politics was contributing to ‘the rise of extremist parties’.

The mayor said: ‘There is only one way to get the change we need – and that is to vote to go; because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says No.’

He rejected claims it would be impossible to negotiate decent trade deals if the people vote for Leave, pointing out that ‘we used to run the biggest empire the world has ever seen’.

‘We have become so used to Nanny in Brussels that we have become infantilised, incapable of imagining an independent future,’ he wrote.

In a further blow to the Prime Minister, it emerged that a quarter of Tory MEPs will also defy him by campaigning for Brexit.

****************************************************************************************

I hope the party make him PM now.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2016 at 10:27am:

**************************************************************************************** I hope the party make him PM now.

It's just possible Britain's Silent Majority might rally to him as a serious alternative to Britain's decades of Leftwing rule in which everyone's interests has been taken care of except the native Britishers themselves.

It remains to be seen what Boris's ideas on other matters are. 

Bravo Boris!

http://s25.postimg.org/d5myx6ayn/1934124_970176493127612_2238387846093650298_n.jpg

This might be the beginning of the end for Cameron.

Michael Gove has joined Boris in the Leave campaign as have a whole bunch of Tories. There might be some from the Labor side yet.

Cameron has shown himself to be a bit of a snake the way he has pretended to be standing up to the EU and a liar about what a great deal he has made.

Raid the petty cash tin and buy pounds. If they exit, sell long...

The pound has dropped sharply today.
This will be a collusion between the ECB and the City with prompting from Juncker & Merkel.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2016 at 7:18am:

The pound has dropped sharply today. This will be a collusion between the ECB and the City with prompting from Juncker & Merkel.

Oh yes. Just as there is a concerted effort in the US to trash and vandalise Trump as a serious contender for the White House - so too do the ruling elite and the pink press in the UK conspire to assassinate the reputation of those they consider not to be on the side of political correctness and the Great God 'Multiculturalism'.

And the other God "Collectivism", for seeking to recreate an empire following on from the Treaty of Rome, they are a polytheistic lot.

International financiers like George Soros and money lenders like The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund use their loans as leverage to blackmail countries into promising to agree with implementing certain Leftwing social agendas as a precondition for receiving these loans.

Follow the money:

Boris is the bookies' favourite to replace Cameron at 5/2

Cameron has been Britain's Malcolm Turnbull - a Leftwing sheep in Conservative clothing. A complete phony.

Now that Boris has come out of the closet as a pro-British patriot and genuine Conservative who wants to restore Britain to full sovereignty over the running of its own affairs ~ traitors like Cameron and his cronies are squealing like stuck pigs.


link

The Czech Republic may choose to follow Britain out of the European Union, the country’s prime minister said, amid growing fears in Brussels of a “contagion”.

Bohuslav Sobotka said that a “Czexit” may take place. The Czech Republic only joined the EU in 2004 and has been the beneficiary of billions in development funds, but has some of the most hostile public opinion.

A Brussels decision to force the country to take in a quota of migrants caused fury. Three-fifths of Czechs said they were unhappy with EU membership and 62 percent said they would vote against it in a referendum, according to an October 2015 poll by the STEM agency.

"If Britain leaves the EU, we can expect debates about leaving the EU in a few years too," said Mr Sobotka, who led eastern European states in opposition to David Cameron’s plans to curb benefits.

"The impact may be really huge," he said, adding that a "Czexit" could trigger an economic and security downturn and a return to the Russian sphere of influence.

Such a move "would be an absolute negation of the developments after 1989", he said, referring to the revolution of Czechoslovakia that threw off Soviet rule.

There are fears in Brussels that the multiple crises of Brexit, migration and the euro mean that 2016 will prove to be the high-water mark of the European project, in which it becomes plain that the vision of a fully federalised EU state will never be reached.

And leaders fear that Mr Cameron will trigger a string of copy-cat referendums from ambitious leaders who want to extract special concessions from Brussels, pulling the bloc to pieces.

Meanwhile, Aleksander Vucic, the Serbian Prime Minister said that EU membership is no longer the "big dream it was in the past" for Balkan states..

"The EU that all of us are aspiring to, it has lost its magic power," Mr Vucic told a conference at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London.

"Yes we all want to join, but it is no longer the big dream it was in the past."
(The Telegraph)

The Heartless Felon wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2016 at 7:11am:

Raid the petty cash tin and buy pounds. If they exit, sell long...

Good luck with that. The pound is spiralling downwards as a result of Brexit fears. I sold GBP in September last year and made a handsome profit as the AUD went from 46p to 52p where it is today.

- and if anybody doesn't think that Brexit will spark the mother of all global recessions, just remember what happened when there was concern about Greece (45th biggest economy) pulling out.

If the world's 5th biggest economy was disrupted in any way, including exit from the EU and the likely Scottish independence that would follow such a move, the effects would be major and longterm.

Brexit is also exactly what the unionists in Northern Ireland would want too, but it would shatter the current fragile peace process.

If you want to invest long in currencies under those circumstances, you should probably pass the details on to your grandkids.

The "stay" in the EU campaign is being run as if it were some rainbow coalition of new age liberals and hard nosed pragmatists. Baloney. The British government is interested in maintaining influence on the continent. That is the Cameron perspective. He wants that influence while looking as if he is being benevolent.

This article in The Economist sums up the consequences quite well:

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21693584-leaving-eu-would-hurt-britainand-would-also-deal-terrible-blow-west-real-danger


Quote:

Britain and the European Union The real danger of Brexit Leaving the EU would hurt Britain—and would also deal a terrible blow to the West Feb 27th 2016 | From the print edition

That article is nothing more than the opinions of one person. I can do that, thanks all the same. If Britain produces superior products at a competitive price, they will find a market,  if market forces mean anything. I don't believe the world will tremble because of EU problems. Take a look at last year. The Greek debt crisis was going to be the end of the world. The real problem is immigration, and Britain needs to keep Muslims out. The first step is to dump Europe.

issuevoter wrote on Feb 26^th, 2016 at 9:50pm:

That article is nothing more than the opinions of one person. I can do that, thanks all the same. If Britain produces superior products at a competitive price, they will find a market,  if market forces mean anything. I don't believe the world will tremble because of EU problems. Take a look at last year. The Greek debt crisis was going to be the end of the world. The real problem is immigration, and Britain needs to keep Muslims out. The first step is to dump Europe.

My sentiments exactly.

I was living and working in the UK when England was unashamedly and unapologetically 'English'. There was no 'Us-and-Them' yet - the demographic was consistently white and without 'minority' ghettoes and enclaves. To refer to oneself as 'English' had not yet taken on connotations of 'racism', 'bigotry' and 'xenophobia' due to the immigrant 'Thems' all being 'British' by registration but not 'English'.

The competition between the Western countries as to which one could boast the loudest that they had destroyed their historic identity through mass immigration and 'Multiculturalism' had not yet begun.

With Britain breaking away from the EU - others will follow.

What I cant understand is why Cameron offered a referendum in the first place if he is against exiting the EU.

Thats not how we do things in Australia, you wont be getting a vote on many things here,,, unless the government is already in favour of it.

Here's a bright girl who wants to see her British homeland withdraw from the continental European Union so more blacks can be brought in from outside of Europe at the expence of white immigration from the European countries.

Thankfully, the majority of Brits have had it up to 'here' with their suburbs being stuffed like Strasbourg geese with foreign identities to the tune of hundreds of thousands each year since decades ago.

But this girl has been thoroughly 'coached' to believe her homeland should no longer be regarded as the stamping ground of the English peoples alone, but should be regarded as a national utility and a convenience for everyone and anyone to come help with 'diversity' and 'difference' in their city ghettoes and their suburban enclaves.   



link

issuevoter wrote on Feb 25^th, 2016 at 10:18pm:

The "stay" in the EU campaign is being run as if it were some rainbow coalition of new age liberals and hard nosed pragmatists. Baloney. The British government is interested in maintaining influence on the continent. That is the Cameron perspective. He wants that influence while looking as if he is being benevolent.

He needs that influence. Without it, it would be Britain versus a united France and Germany.

Good luck with that.

Lord Herbert wrote on Feb 27^th, 2016 at 6:19am:

issuevoter wrote on Feb 26th, 2016 at 9:50pm: That article is nothing more than the opinions of one person. I can do that, thanks all the same. If Britain produces superior products at a competitive price, they will find a market,  if market forces mean anything. I don't believe the world will tremble because of EU problems. Take a look at last year. The Greek debt crisis was going to be the end of the world. The real problem is immigration, and Britain needs to keep Muslims out. The first step is to dump Europe. My sentiments exactly. I was living and working in the UK when England was unashamedly and unapologetically 'English'. There was no 'Us-and-Them' yet - the demographic was consistently white and without 'minority' ghettoes and enclaves. To refer to oneself as 'English' had not yet taken on connotations of 'racism', 'bigotry' and 'xenophobia' due to the immigrant 'Thems' all being 'British' by registration but not 'English'.

We used to call you Soap dodgers and whingers, and you are. The only use I have for my British passport is for the free passage in Europe - a far nicer place than England. The English are all p!ssing off over there too.

And this is the reason Brits will want to stay in the EU. Sure, the English may favour their crap food over the superior European array of produce, but they won’t want to give up the opportunity of retiring in Spain.

One of Britain's Chief Criminals who puts Lord Haw Haw to shame as a traitor.

What the hell this social-engineering political criminal is doing walking around as a free man is utterly beyond me.

Someone ought to hire one of the remnants of the IRA to go blow this bastárd's arse into the middle of next week. I'd do the job myself if I could find my passport.   8-)

Always remember that voices like Karnal are primarily concerned with pushing a globalist collectivist agenda.
Everything that enhances that movement, such as preserving and expanding the EU, is their prime aim.
But as I continue to poimt out elsewhere they wont have a Europe to preserve soon due to their limp-wristed failure to stand up.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 27^th, 2016 at 12:13pm:

Always remember that voices like Karnal are primarily concerned with pushing a globalist collectivist agenda. Everything that enhances that movement, such as preserving and expanding the EU, is their prime aim. But as I continue to poimt out elsewhere they wont have a Europe to preserve soon due to their limp-wristed failure to stand up.

Er, I’m a libertarian. When have I ever advocated a globalist collectivist agenda?

It underlies everything you say, particularly in international matters.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 27^th, 2016 at 12:20pm:

It underlies everything you say, particularly in international matters.

It's on record.

In the OzPolitic Hansard.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 27^th, 2016 at 12:20pm:

It underlies everything you say, particularly in international matters.

Maybe you’re right. I do think the future is regional rather than.national. In economic terms, it already is.

But in.policy terms, I’m not a fan of the sort of collectivist socialist policies espoused by some unions and those on the hard left. I’m in a union, and I disagree with most of their ideas. I wouldn’t strike or maintain solidarity with something I didn’t believe in, which is a definite impulse within the ALP. It’s how they managed to keep together

Personally, I’m not a fan of crowds. The collectivist political model is very industrial. It’s how you work a production line. It doesn’t work in the current social and political climate. We’ve moved on. Ideas have to move too.

Clamping down on free trade and migration is a collectivist tendency. This was, after all, the policy of the ALP from 1901 to the 1960s.The policy was based on labour protection. It was scrapped due to economic growth and the need for higher population. Restrictions on trade were scrapped when we saw how much better those Japanese cars and appliances were. Well, that’s shorthand of a number of competing policies, events and global economic paradigm shifts.

My belief in regional governance is about going with the economy, not against it. People trade and migrate more now than at any other time in history. You don’t manage this by banning it - this only causes war.Banning free trade caused WWI, WWII and the Cold War. Banning migration caused tens of millions of refugees to be murdered, put in gulags, or live in stateless limbos.

When these problems have been put to you in the past, Bogie, you said you didn’t care. States need to be able to erect strong borders, ban trade and migration, and arm themselves for war. This doesn’t underlie your posts, you state this.

But underlying this view is an amnesia about the entire 20th century. Those who’ve read or know something of war, don’t want it. Those who’ve read or experienced economic recession, don’t want to go there. You don’t want to lose your savings in inflation, you don’t want to lose your job and have a 50% unemployment rate. You don’t want to lose your house and become homeless. The 1890s recessions, the Great Depression, the OPEC oil shocks, the 1980s Latin American oans crisis, the breakup of the former Soviet Union, the Asian Financial Crisis, the GFC - these crises caused massive poverty, political turmoil and, yes, war.

Australia, more than most countries, is subject to foreign trade and capital. Most economic activity in Australia comes from multinational corporations. We massively rely on the global economy. We always have.

This isn’t collectivism, it’s common sense. Australia is not a closed shop. I support a similar stance in Europe, but for a different reason: an economically integrated Europe will prevent the 20th century history of bloodshed repeating.

This isn’t some collectivist globalist conspiracy, it’s the dominant economic theory from Maynard Keynes on. More trade and financial stability, less war, less povety, less inflation and liebensrsum.

Your alternative, Bogie, is not somewhere any sane person would want to go.

I am not afraid of nationalism Karnal. I think it is the natural & preferred option.
You are simply regurgitating the collectivist aspirations which you favour when you raise the spectre of war & disaster.
If you think I'm insane I'll get you a letter from my therapist. She doesn't think so.

The USSR, the UN, and the EU are all failures. There is only one lasting unity: language.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 28^th, 2016 at 7:27am:

I am not afraid of nationalism Karnal. I think it is the natural & preferred option. You are simply regurgitating the collectivist aspirations which you favour when you raise the spectre of war & disaster. If you think I'm insane I'll get you a letter from my therapist. She doesn't think so.

You want carnage. Your other post calls to dismantle international justice institutions so that crimes against humanity can be committed without sanction.

This is not insane, it shows you’d like to cover your tracks.

This is criminal.

Damn right the UK should get out of the EU.

link

link

link

Melanias purse wrote on Feb 28^th, 2016 at 11:50am:

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 28th, 2016 at 7:27am: I am not afraid of nationalism Karnal. I think it is the natural & preferred option. You are simply regurgitating the collectivist aspirations which you favour when you raise the spectre of war & disaster. If you think I'm insane I'll get you a letter from my therapist. She doesn't think so. You want carnage. Your other post calls to dismantle international justice institutions so that crimes against humanity can be committed without sanction. This is not insane, it shows you’d like to cover your tracks. This is criminal.

I am pointing out that political forces of the left have been able, over a number of decades, to set in place mechanisms that ensure countries are not able to defend themselves from the type of incursions that are affecting Europe now.

Think about it.
Who have these institutions brought to justice?
Have they brought the Robert Mugabes of the world to justice? Of course not. Once again the same political forces have ensured that the UN and other systems are stacked against that.

They have however brought to justice the people of Serbia who attempted to resist the march of Islam in the Balkans. They pick their targets carefully.

I won't entertain your arrogant opinions of myself when I know they are based on total misconceptions of reality.

A very good article in support of Britain withdrawing from the dictatorship of continental European bureaucrats.



"The areas of public and private life that the EU has authority to regulate have grown relentlessly, especially since the 2007 Lisbon Treaty. In their attempts to resolve the euro crisis since 2009 and now the refugee crisis, Europe's elite have revealed that their true intention is to create a European super-state. Every call for a "European solution" is a call to subordinate the rights of national parliaments to the superior "rationality" of the supranational, Brussels-based bureaucracy embodied in the European Commission.


"True, the EU has its own parliament in Strasbourg. But only the European Commission, an unelected supranational bureaucracy, has the power to propose and draft EU legislation. The Strasbourg parliament can reject but not repeal or replace these "directives" ordering national parliaments to pass laws which they have not asked for and for which no minister can be held to public account. Commission regulations are binding on all member states with national parliaments possessing no legislative capacity to reject or amend them, though a government may bring a case in the European Court of Justice.

Somewhere between half and two thirds of the laws and regulations in force in Britain have their origins in Brussels' unaccountable couloirs. Yet government by EU bureaucratic regulation is incompatible with Britain's representative institutions".


link

Its not just the EU. People who make a profession of drawing up regulations do not arrive at a point where the job is finished. Its their life.

issuevoter wrote on Feb 26^th, 2016 at 9:50pm:

That article is nothing more than the opinions of one person. I can do that, thanks all the same. If Britain produces superior products at a competitive price, they will find a market,  if market forces mean anything. I don't believe the world will tremble because of EU problems. Take a look at last year. The Greek debt crisis was going to be the end of the world. The real problem is immigration, and Britain needs to keep Muslims out. The first step is to dump Europe.

I was almost going to invest in Britain. I was seriously considering it.  I had read the prospectus and almost went ahead with it. When this Brexit referendum came along, the pound dropped like a stone just at the suggestion of exit from the EU.  My investment in GBP would have been practically worthless.   Any dividends would have been offset by the falling GBP.

So now I am in the process of transferring my funds to Australia to a similar investment (Parking) where they will be much safer.

There must be many more in the same boat.

A friend of mine advised, "If you cannot afford to lose it, don't buy stock." Given that worldwide, stock markets have been up and down like the proverbial "Whore's drawers," for years now, I don't think you can single out Britain on buyers jitters.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 28^th, 2016 at 12:52pm:

Think about it. Who have these institutions brought to justice? Have they brought the Robert Mugabes of the world to justice? Of course not. Once again the same political forces have ensured that the UN and other systems are stacked against that.

The Hague has ruled on a number of international treaties and areas of international law. Right now, the oil and gas treaty with East Timor is being heard, after it was exposed that Australia spied on the East Timorese.

You need a global form of justice to deal with these sorts of issues. Without it, the strongest prevail. We return to an era of gunship diplomacy or a Cold War network of alliances and global hierarchy.

Australia is in a good position globally because of its post-war alliance with the US. This will change. Australia can throw its muscle around with very few countries in the Asia Pacific region. East Timor is one. PNG is another.

Indonesia is one country Australia can't stand up to militarily. China is the big other. China is slowly transitioning into the new global hegemon. As the geopolitical plates shift, so too will Australia's place in the world. Given most of our trade is with China, we will become - without a doubt - China's bitch before long.

So while we boss East Timor and our only former colony, PNG, around, we can boss very few other countries. And this is why we need international forms of justice.

Right, China goes to war and some international court will stop it.

I noticed you didn't comment on the attention paid to Serbia by the court, for doing what it had to do to try and keep militant Islam out of the Balkans. If it wasn't for Clinton we would have seen Melosivic doing us all a favour.
Nor did you address how these putrid courts never touch the scores of African & Middle East monsters.

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2016 at 6:18am:

Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for an exit could have a significant impact on the outcome. He will be a de facto leader of the Leave campaign and is a persuasive speaker. I'd say Cameron's chances of winning a Stay vote, already behind in the polls, just got harder. And maybe his leadership just got a bit rocky as well.

I think EU will do well without the UK; and when Scotland happens to secede from the UK, there will be little to support, "Britania rule".
When will the English people realise that they are not a great power.
When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right.
They want a lot of preferences from the other EU countries, which should tell UK to accept, that they are just another EU country and if they don't like it, get out.

bogarde73 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2016 at 3:29pm:

Right, China goes to war and some international court will stop it. I noticed you didn't comment on the attention paid to Serbia by the court, for doing what it had to do to try and keep militant Islam out of the Balkans. If it wasn't for Clinton we would have seen Melosivic doing us all a favour. Nor did you address how these putrid courts never touch the scores of African & Middle East monsters.

Misosevic was found guilty of genocide. This was not a political decision, it was one of the most public and transparent trials of the late 20th century.

The Hague does not have international juristiction. Being subject to "these putrid courts" requires a treaty. I think you’ll find Zimbabwe is a signatory to very few global bodies. If you’d like an African multilateral arangement, join the queue.

If I’ve missed something, Bogie, let me know. I’m always here to help.

hawil wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2016 at 6:42pm:

bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22nd, 2016 at 6:18am: Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for an exit could have a significant impact on the outcome. He will be a de facto leader of the Leave campaign and is a persuasive speaker. I'd say Cameron's chances of winning a Stay vote, already behind in the polls, just got harder. And maybe his leadership just got a bit rocky as well. I think EU will do well without the UK; and when Scotland happens to secede from the UK, there will be little to support, "Britania rule". When will the English people realise that they are not a great power. When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right. They want a lot of preferences from the other EU countries, which should tell UK to accept, that they are just another EU country and if they don't like it, get out.

The UK has never liked it. The EU is not black and white. Countries negotiate their involvement.

The UK could  pull out and still do some business in the EU, as Scandinavian countries do. Those countries, however, have an agreement with each other. Without the EU, the UK would be going alone. The UK might still do some business, but it would fall way behind the other big European industrial countries. It simply wouldn’t have the markets.

Which side of the road you drive on might sound petty, but car manufacturers on both sides of the Channel must take this into consideration when they make cars, as you do when you drive off the ferry into France (or vice versa).

hawil wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2016 at 6:42pm:

When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right.

Well there's Ireland too, but they have adopted kilometers for speed limits and Euro style road signs.  The only way you know that you're entering the Republic of Ireland is from the speed limits, unless you're walking and can read the small print which is unreadable at 100km/hr.

Then there's Japan, Indonesia, Australia,  NZ, South Africa and a few others.

John_Taverner wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 7:20am:

hawil wrote on Mar 2nd, 2016 at 6:42pm: When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right. Well there's Ireland too, but they have adopted kilometers for speed limits and Euro style road signs.  The only way you know that you're entering the Republic of Ireland is from the speed limits, unless you're walking and can read the small print which is unreadable at 100km/hr. Then there's Japan, Indonesia, Australia,  NZ, South Africa and a few others.

The countries which you mention that still drive on the left side are not next to the European continent like the UK, where you can be in less than an hour, and then have the steering wheel on the outside of the road.
It is often difficult to pass another vehicle on a narrow road when the steering wheel is on the centre of the road side, it is almost impossible when it is on the outside. Try to drive a left-hand drive vehicle in Australia and see how inconvenient it is.
My post had nothing to do with pettiness, as Karnal implied, just common sense.

"I watched pictures of asylum seekers in Calais, fighting authority with rocks and fire - a war of their own making - when they were supposed to be escaping the trauma of the very same.

Asylum seekers slashing wrists rather than jumping on transport to decent shelter because they had not come this close to Britain to end up living in France.

And this dodgy Union of ours, finally admitting half of these asylum seekers are no such thing. They were pleasure seekers, now boarding planes back to Baghdad because Finland is too cold and the weather not so nice.

Many are ruthless desperadoes, willing to throw their wives and kids to the bottom of the Med to have a chance of life where living is easy and family comes with benefits.

And I have stopped listening to Dave and his cronies telling me why paying benefits to foreigners multiplying like rabbits is good for Britain - when future pensioners in my country will work till 81 to pay for it.


"We pay £55 million a day to endure bureaucratic nonsense and external interference in return for trading as one nation.

But things have changed.

Europe has expanded beyond recognition, a hideous second marriage resulting in ugly step-kids who can't stand each other and would rather steal than share.

And even as the Ginger German's own people cheer the arson of another refugee hostel in Germany, and the Right are on the ascendance, Merkel is still compounding the pressures on us all.

She is planning to issue 75 million Turks with EU visas to thank them for their help in stemming the future tide of migrants from Syria.


"Twelve months ago I warned we should send gun boats to The Med to turn back the people traffickers.

I said, "It’s time to get Australian. Bring on the gunships, force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats.

Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad.

I still don’t care"

"As Macedonia rebuilds its fortress frontier, Greece has been amputated, like a gangrenous limb.

Don't ask yourself whether you want to stay in or out of Europe on June 23.

Europe's finished.

Just ask yourself which vote will best defend ourselves from the plague at our door, and how fast".


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Lord Herbert wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 11:19am:

"I watched pictures of asylum seekers in Calais, fighting authority with rocks and fire - a war of their own making - when they were supposed to be escaping the trauma of the very same. Asylum seekers slashing wrists rather than jumping on transport to decent shelter because they had not come this close to Britain to end up living in France. And this dodgy Union of ours, finally admitting half of these asylum seekers are no such thing. They were pleasure seekers, now boarding planes back to Baghdad because Finland is too cold and the weather not so nice. Many are ruthless desperadoes, willing to throw their wives and kids to the bottom of the Med to have a chance of life where living is easy and family comes with benefits. And I have stopped listening to Dave and his cronies telling me why paying benefits to foreigners multiplying like rabbits is good for Britain - when future pensioners in my country will work till 81 to pay for it. "We pay £55 million a day to endure bureaucratic nonsense and external interference in return for trading as one nation. But things have changed. Europe has expanded beyond recognition, a hideous second marriage resulting in ugly step-kids who can't stand each other and would rather steal than share. And even as the Ginger German's own people cheer the arson of another refugee hostel in Germany, and the Right are on the ascendance, Merkel is still compounding the pressures on us all. She is planning to issue 75 million Turks with EU visas to thank them for their help in stemming the future tide of migrants from Syria. "Twelve months ago I warned we should send gun boats to The Med to turn back the people traffickers. I said, "It’s time to get Australian. Bring on the gunships, force migrants back to their shores and burn the boats. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care" "As Macedonia rebuilds its fortress frontier, Greece has been amputated, like a gangrenous limb. Don't ask yourself whether you want to stay in or out of Europe on June 23. Europe's finished. Just ask yourself which vote will best defend ourselves from the plague at our door, and how fast". link

Very brutal post, unfortunately the politicians are failing the people who have elected them, everywhere.
Another problem is the very inequitable distribution of wealth on this planet, and with the modern communication the poor of this planet are becoming aware of it.
Read recently that a car is being displayed at the Geneva exhibition, costing a cool $3.5million, and yet in other places people are starving.
Although the population explosion has to be addressed.

Melanias purse wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2016 at 8:49pm:

hawil wrote on Mar 2nd, 2016 at 6:42pm: bogarde73 wrote on Feb 22nd, 2016 at 6:18am: Boris Johnson's decision to campaign for an exit could have a significant impact on the outcome. He will be a de facto leader of the Leave campaign and is a persuasive speaker. I'd say Cameron's chances of winning a Stay vote, already behind in the polls, just got harder. And maybe his leadership just got a bit rocky as well. I think EU will do well without the UK; and when Scotland happens to secede from the UK, there will be little to support, "Britania rule". When will the English people realise that they are not a great power. When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right. They want a lot of preferences from the other EU countries, which should tell UK to accept, that they are just another EU country and if they don't like it, get out. The UK has never liked it. The EU is not black and white. Countries negotiate their involvement. The UK could  pull out and still do some business in the EU, as Scandinavian countries do. Those countries, however, have an agreement with each other. Without the EU, the UK would be going alone. The UK might still do some business, but it would fall way behind the other big European industrial countries. It simply wouldn’t have the markets. Which side of the road you drive on might sound petty, but car manufacturers on both sides of the Channel must take this into consideration when they make cars, as you do when you drive off the ferry into France (or vice versa).

You mentioned Scandinavian countries, if you check you'll find the only Scandinavian country not in the EU is Norway, because they are not prepared to share their enormous oil-wealth with anyone.

hawil wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 11:37am:

You mentioned Scandinavian countries, if you check you'll find the only Scandinavian country not in the EU is Norway, because they are not prepared to share their enormous oil-wealth with anyone.

Interesting. I never knew that. At least that's one Western country with a decent set of politcians.

It has come down to cheap threats from the elite:

UK PM David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande will hold talks in the French city of Amiens. Counter-terrorism and conflicts in Libya and Syria are also expected to be on the agenda.

Hours before the meeting, French Finance Minister Emanualle Macron said his country could allow migrants to travel unchecked to the UK if British voters chose to leave the European Union in a June referendum.

issuevoter wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 9:51pm:

It has come down to cheap threats from the elite: UK PM David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande will hold talks in the French city of Amiens. Counter-terrorism and conflicts in Libya and Syria are also expected to be on the agenda. Hours before the meeting, French Finance Minister Emanualle Macron said his country could allow migrants to travel unchecked to the UK if British voters chose to leave the European Union in a June referendum.

.... Which all goes to show the real nature of the European Union : A conspiracy of thugs gradually working towards stripping individual nations of their sovereign right to independence - with a view to ruling by fiat and decree from a Central Committee of soviet-style dictatorship ... for the good of preventing wars and famine, but of course ...

issuevoter wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 9:51pm:

It has come down to cheap threats from the elite: UK PM David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande will hold talks in the French city of Amiens. Counter-terrorism and conflicts in Libya and Syria are also expected to be on the agenda. Hours before the meeting, French Finance Minister Emanualle Macron said his country could allow migrants to travel unchecked to the UK if British voters chose to leave the European Union in a June referendum.

And the failure Hollande has made the empty threat to take half the City to Europe.

hawil wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2016 at 11:17am:

John_Taverner wrote on Mar 3rd, 2016 at 7:20am: hawil wrote on Mar 2nd, 2016 at 6:42pm: When are they are going to  abolish the silly driving rule, of driving on the left, when everyone else drives on the right. Well there's Ireland too, but they have adopted kilometers for speed limits and Euro style road signs.  The only way you know that you're entering the Republic of Ireland is from the speed limits, unless you're walking and can read the small print which is unreadable at 100km/hr. Then there's Japan, Indonesia, Australia,  NZ, South Africa and a few others. The countries which you mention that still drive on the left side are not next to the European continent like the UK, where you can be in less than an hour, and then have the steering wheel on the outside of the road. It is often difficult to pass another vehicle on a narrow road when the steering wheel is on the centre of the road side, it is almost impossible when it is on the outside. Try to drive a left-hand drive vehicle in Australia and see how inconvenient it is. My post had nothing to do with pettiness, as Karnal implied, just common sense.

I've got no doubt that it would more practical for the UK. I have driven a right-hand vehicle in Norway so I understand the problems.  Paying road and tunnel tolls was a major nightmare until I acquired a passenger who wanted to tour with me. I was in my early 20s at the time. (fun times)

I was just pointing out that Ireland and a few others were still RHD. 

It's unlikely to change in the UK. They are an insular mob.

John_Taverner wrote on Mar 4^th, 2016 at 7:19am:

It's unlikely to change in the UK. They are an insular mob.

You must be joking.

They've been dissolving their national identity hand-over-fist these past few decades.


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Japan also drives on the left. It would be interesting to see why Europe chose the right and the US followed suit. Two way traffic seems to be an urban invention. We mount a horse from the left in any country. It would be inconvenient to walk around into the street to mount. If two horsemen are approaching in a single lane, on what side do they pass each other?

"Quitting EU would make Britain SAFER, says former MI6 chief: Sir Richard Dearlove suggests Brexit would make it easier to deport terrorists and control our borders"

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Britain should take back its sovereignty - lock, stock, and both barrels.

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