Why am I so late for these posts? I know I am determined to be late for my own funeral (so no other bugger will be there, which will happen anyway) but, have I gone into lost, stolen or strayed mode somehow?
So a collective particiaption by way of a catch-up if I may?
Hilary. First is a simple fact that net conrubution to the EU by Brition is just on €9 Billion pa (read OECD and ILF figures to check). A lot of money, yes indeed, BUT the overall Budget for the EU is €160 Billion, which pute these figures into a bit more perspective. Plus apparently, although I cannot swear to the veracity of it, apparently little Finland has offered to make up the shortfall.
Ref Macron. He was voted in on a ‘change’ basis and ‘pro-business’. Few would argue that both these things have needed urgent addressing. They are also issues that need addressing in many countries and the short answer is NOT in increasing Nationalism that is being espoused by many. America is one of the very few countries that could even come close to self-sufficiency in the short term, but the UK is more vulnerable that most in this regard.
Even at the height of Empire Britain was unable to feed itself, without relying on not just the Commonwealth - although mainly on Australia and New Zealand. WW2 just about broke the UK in every sense and the loss of the Empire made them even more vulnerable. Today there are even more people and even less land under cultivation of food. Worldwide it is becoming obvious that meat-eating is both climate damaging in the demands made by cattle in both eating the grasses and the expulsion of methane. It is NOT even profitable for the producers any more. Unsustainable.
Britain is going out of its way (or some 50% of it is) to aggravate, annoy and insult its closest trading partners which must go down as one of the daftest foreign policies ever created! Even Russia provided grain to the USA in the 190’s which some conveniently forget. They also forget that when the grain harvest collapsed in Russia during Clinton’s Presidency he refused to sell (note SELL not donate) American grain to the ‘enemy’. Ever wonder about tensions internationally?
Everyone has the right to criticise its Leaders, and to an extent those of others, but such disagreements are best left to professionals not hack journalists such as are more rife in the UK than any other country I know.
Here in France, there is nothing new about France being a poor country to invest in. The bureaucracy has been the main problem, and the perceived strength of the anarchist-derived CGT a major deterrent. Although those of us who have studied the phenomenon of street marches in France understand they derived from the hugely splintered political scene in this country for Decades and decades which gave very little access to ‘mass points of view’. We all know this no longer applies.
A little suggested reading might help ‘Hall Davis’ The Course of Europe since Waterloo’ and Robert Tombs ‘France 1814-1914’ are worth the effort. There are of course many others in French, but these as their titles indicate are in English.
DeGaulle famously said ‘France was ungovernable’ and gave as a humorous support the number of cheeses made here. More valid even is the fact that France is still largely a conservative country that resists change. Yes, ‘change’ here must carry the suffix ‘as long as it doesn’t change things for me’.
I applaud Macron for his efforts, whilst still recognising a level of ineptness in his PR and even operational methodology. His inexperience was widely attacked before he was voted in, as was his background, employment history and the fact that he has a much older wife. None of this is new, none are revelations.
Now (as a voting Frenchman) I am being told by a bunch of yellow vests who I should vote for? Yes they can tell me, and I can ignore them, but when they march in my face, destroy businesses that I respect and of other French citizens, abuse and assault the guardians of Law and Order - I can’t find a single reason to take any of their ‘arguments’ on board. How strange that in this now much-abused Presidency I still have that right? Just as it would appear the yellow vests, the Bolshevik would-be Kommissar Melenchon and th odious name changer Marine LePen have th e right to spout their rubbish to the gullible? What a terrible dictatorship we live under with the ‘new Napoleon’? Utter tripe.
Just as so many Brits have said ‘we don’t want the EU’ then yes, they should just go. Ditto with the people who live in France (and remain resolutely British) should really consider their options and values. Now is crunch time.
I made my decision before Brexit, as I know many others have done. I can’t see a single reason (again) to change my mind.
Doh. Lesson remembered - it’s always worth another look
I didn’t bat an eyelid when I read your words… 'cos I could feel (and share) your pain… 