Why, if you live in France, did you vote for Brexit?

Upon you own admission you would have voted Brexit if you had the chance. Therefore I would imagine that you can answer the question as well as anybody who did actuall place their cross against Brexit. As you have evaded the opportunity I presume that you, like the others, haven’t got a clue. It’s so easy to slag off successful politicians like Mrs Merkel but much harder to come up with any original, intelligent thoughts of your own. The rest of your post is, well, interesting. If the UK is really that undertrodden no wonder you opted to live elsewhere.

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I did have the chance - if you have bothered to read my original reply - " I did NOT vote as I am NOT living in the UK and therefore why should I interfere. I did not slag madame Merkel off I merely pointed out her actions.
So Mr well informed let’s us all hear what you have to say or should I just send you a bigger wooden spoon to stir the pot with?

JJ

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Yes it is. I have a lot of respect for John Pilger and Tony Benn, both intelligent, honest, articulate men. And I think Yaris Varoufakis is also a very intelligent man who has a valid opinion and has seen how it works on the inside as has Tony Benn.

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Her actions? A successful politician who puts the well being of her country and its partners to the fore. Yet again you have refused to make a positive contribution. Sad.

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I’d hazard a guess that Poppy and Jenny are avid Daily Mail readers…

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Why??

Are you??

I’ll ask again, why do you think that?

Some folk think they can identify which newspapers etc a person reads/follows… simply by their responses to certain subjects/questions etc…

It’s not rocket science… there is a 50/50 chance of being right… :heart_eyes:

phew… where’s the wine… :yum:

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Surely the problem is not that Merkel is strong but that the UK’s government is weak.
A UK with a strong government and clear policies could potentially have made a success of being in the EU had it wanted to stay in, by making its voice heard, and helping to shape policy, or equally stood a good chance of making a success of Brexit by spelling out exactly what it is asking for and what it’s prepared to offer in return. It’s because the UK government is weak/doesn’t know what it wants/can’t see the “bigger picture” that it wasn’t bien dans son assiette in the EU and is making a poor fist of Brexit. The difference is that if the referendum had voted to stay, the weakness wouldn’t have been so obvious because they could have stayed in the passenger seat criticising the driver, but now they’ve been made to take the driving seat there’s no hiding the fact that their own driving skills are pathetic.

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I had boat business in the UK until I sold up last year. You are referring to the Recreational Craft Directive which came effect June 16, 1998. It was effectively a CE mark for all recreational craft sold within the EU to try and ensure that they met a set of minimum standards.

You contend that it was the result of pressure from French yacht makers, but in truth the bulk of the directive was drawn up by the British. The British Marine Federation were, and are, heavily involved with the standards.

An exemption was made where people built their own boat for their own use, providing they did not place the craft on the market for 5 years after it was first used for its intended purpose. Nevertheless, for inland waterway use, in the UK it would still require a Boat Safety Certificate. This is not as comprehensive as the RCD, but it is nevertheless a set of standards of a purely British creation that have been in place since 1996.

It is entirely right and reasonable that a boat should be built to a defined set of standards, otherwise it could be potentially dangerous. Aspects of the scheme are often revised and modified as they should be. However, if your hobby was constructing kit cars, even just for your own use, no one in their right minds would suggest that you should be able to drive it on the roads without conforming to standards.

So, on the grounds that the Directive is a sound idea AND that it was not the dastardly scheme of the French marine industry, rather like a boat not built to decent standards, your example simply doesn’t hold water.

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Hi Dominic, you may well be right about British boatbuilders being equally, or even more interested in originating the legislation. Certainly the French lobbied intensely for its adoption.

I have sailed pretty well all my life covering many tens of thousands of miles in small boats at sea. Most of these craft were built and designed by people who had spent a lifetime in boats small and large, many descending from generations of seamen - but very few of these fine seaboats were built to conform to any official regulations, the yards where they were built were largely unregulated, and I suspect their builders held no official qualifications apart from having undergone a long apprenticeship.

The boat I sail now (not one I built, but I did restore it from near wreck status) was designed by John Illingworth, one of the most famous ocean racing men of all time. As far as I know he had no qualifications in naval architecture yet he conceived or designed many of the most successful and capable offshore boats of the 20th century. I have also cruised thousands of miles in a boat designed (and built in his own boatyard) by Henri Amel, who was unqualified as a designer and also effectively blind. Peter Webster, a family friend, who owned and ran one of the best British yacht building yards of the day, was an enthusiastic amateur sailor who sold his family grocery business in the early 1960s in order to set up in Lymington to build boats. The famous and successful designer, Harrison Butler, was a doctor who devised a mathematical theory which he claimed would produce good boats. He turned to yacht design and created many great yachts, although though his “metacentric” theory is now considered invalid.

I do not disagree with the need for regulation on inland waterways which are far more accessible to inexperienced and untrained users, and where unsuitable craft, crowded waters, and an illusion of safe proximity to dry land can create a dangerous environment, but I do think that in most situations people who go to sea in small boats should be permitted to choose how and in what craft to do it.

Anyway, my example of the inconvenient rule about boat building was the first thing I thought of when asked to provide an instance of EU interference or over-regulation. There are thousands of other instances that have been allowed to creep in to affect our daily lives.

All the best, good sailing,
Patrick

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Are inland waterways really more accessible to inexperienced and untrained users? Not in my experience.

Yes. Not everyone lives near the sea. Nobody lives far from a river, stream, lake, canal, pond or reservoir.

Many people in th UK do not live near a navigable inland waterway. Remember that the RCD does not apply to craft under 2.5 metres so reservoir dinghy sailing isn’t really an issue. In the UK anyone can head off to sea without any qualification.

A poorly constructed sea going vessel is likely to cost lives more than a canal boat will. I don’t doubt that those builders you mention constructed fine craft, but the RCD does not require anyone to have any qualifications to construct a boat. It just requires that the boat meets a set of standards. It’s not difficult to follow those standards, and most are also international standards - ISOs. Against your bespoke yacht builders you have the production line boats: Fairline, Sunseeker, Benetteau etc. Of course these should be built to standards and be fit for purpose.

I cannot see for one moment why this could create a reason for plunging the UK into the mess it is now in because of Brexit uncertainty. I am 64, and it is the most significant political event in the UK in my lifetime. It has divided the country, given licence to the racist element, and is starting to severely damage the economy. It is a stupid, self-inflicted disaster, and not one Leave supporter has ever come up with a sound reason as to why it will benefit the country. That’s because there isn’t one.

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Oh dear - and I’ll ask again - do you read the Daily Mail. Yes or no will do…

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And if the answer is no, you should.

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ROTFL !!! Good one David!

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Oh dear, I guess you’ll just have to keep guessing and read my posts (or not read them, your choice) without being able to blame my opinion on your opinion of one newspaper or another. Do you think John Pilger, Tony Benn and Yanis Varoufakis are Daily Mail readers?

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Yes or no will do Poppy…