Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Update - Labour lead at 7
by YouGov in Politics
Sun February 16, 2014 6 a.m. GMT

Latest YouGov / Sunday Times results 14th February - Con 32%, Lab 39%, LD 9%, UKIP 12%;

The monthly online ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror is out tonight with topline figures of

CON 32%(+2), LAB 37%(+2), LDEM 9%(+1), UKIP 15%(-4).

Wee Eck has a problem....



Jose Manuel Barroso: nearly impossible for Scotland to join EU

Major blow for Scottish indendence as EU's most senior official warns it would be 'extremely difficult' to get approval of all member states



By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

11:50AM GMT 16 Feb 2014



IT would be almost impossible for Scotland to join the European Union if the country becomes independent, the EU’s most senior official has warned in a major blow to Alex Salmond.


Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said it would be “very difficult, if not impossible” for Scotland to get the agreement of all EU states to join the bloc.


Membership of the EU is central to Alex Salmond’s blueprint for separation.


The Scottish Government has claimed that following a vote for separation, they would negotiate with the EU commission and member states for a “smooth transition” so that Scotland is a full EU member on independence day, marked as 24 March 2016.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10641833/Jose-Manuel-Barroso-nearly-impossible-for-Scotland-to-join-EU.html

Before Cameroon and his loony mates jump for joy with what Barroso said;

These are the smaller members of the EU, many of whom may have links to Scotland and would be happy to see another small country join,

Malta 419,000
 Luxembourg 542,000
 Cyprus 888,000
 Estonia 1,283,000
 Latvia 2,011,000
 Slovenia 2,062,000
 Lithuania 2,956,000
 Croatia 4,258,000
 Ireland 4,662,000
 Slovakia 5,413,000
 Finland 5,436,000
 Denmark 5,612,000
 Bulgaria 7,261,000
 Austria 8,477,000
 Sweden 9,595,000
 Hungary 9,894,000
 Czech Republic 10,519,000
 Portugal 10,609,000
 Greece 10,758,000
 Belgium 11,162,000
 


-=======.

Also, if they did win the referendum they have the pound in "their pocket" and have a 2 year + period to disentangle themselves from the UK Union.

It would probably push them into using the Euro as Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia.

They would be tied to the exchange rate of the Euro.

Probably, initially chaos, but would settle down within a five year period.

======

The little ones have little influence on the value of the currency, but benefit by protection of it.

If little Englanders succeed and leave the EU completely, much of future overseas investment will go straight into the EU, slowly more and more bye passing the C.of.L.

Interesting to watch from the sidelines.

You are missing the point Fred, the €uroburgers don't want Scootland to join as a separate entity, it would open too many other doors....think Spain and the Catalans for one.

fossy miss the point?
how could you accuse our resident, supercilious, armchair pedagogue of such a crime?

Manuel.

Go back to waitering, your record is stuck

======

My guess, if the the Scots vote is for separation, then the EU will accept them as another minor sized group.

The same "moans" were said about the Eire.

Croatia, Slovenia and other countries before they were accepted.

The Scot's values have more in common with the EU than England.

I think it may leave Labour with few problems to overcome if the the Scots vote to leave the Union, but if the Scots vote to stay in the Union I can't see the torrid party or UKIP having more than one Scottish seated MP at Westminster, which may be what Milliband and Balls are thinking.

Balls, Cameron and Darling, may be gambling that the threat will back fire on Osborne (The Baronet) and Wavy Dave.

========


But they don't have to be "in" the E.U to use the euro, other states do.

But some in Scotland look to the Krona.

=========

Read http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/16/scotland-independence-sterling-george-osborne


Interesting reflection of the possible emotional effect of the Bullying,

The article is to long for Manuel's feeble intellect.

Actually putting Manuel and intellect is a bit unfair.















to the the meaning of the word "intellect"!

Fred you are a raz pe fin vye granmoun. :-))

PS.

I liked the design of the Scottish pound note.

----------

Osborne and Cameron are bluffing.

I am not sure what Barosso was thinking of, but he won't be there for any negotiations of Scotland's acceptance, but he did say Cameron hasn't got a cat in hell's chance of renegotiating immigration quotas into the UK.

Also, he pointed to the possible economic problems of leaving the EU.

Only Manuel and Farage think they are islands unto themselves.

Dreams,

Just pinched this from your Manuel and a the Hazy one's favourite "paper".

If David Cameron saw Nigel Farage coming down the street, he’d dive into the traffic to avoid him.

The Prime Minister is convinced that the best tactic with UKIP is to deny them the oxygen of publicity.

As they like to say at Conservative Campaign Headquarters: the first rule for dealing with UKIP is not to talk about UKIP.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2560417/JAMES-FORSYTH-Clegg-Farage-squaring-saloon-bar-brawl.html#ixzz2tVnZxrlb
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

There is no way Scotland can remain with the pound if they become independent...the Euro would be the only solution.....they must be nuts if they vote yes !....
Anyway.....what is it with bicyclists that : in towns : some of them are pests !....going through red lights...mounting pavements...riding two abreast.....wobbling so you can't overtake them...agggghhhh....all dressed up like superman wasps !...some bike riders are very responsible people but a heck of a lot of them don't go by the code of the road.....and it seems, the coppers don't give a damn !.....I might as well add : what the hell do they widen pavements everywhere for ?...you have one pedestrian most of the time and the pavement is ten feet wide !...sometimes more...with a tailback of vehicles all crammed into one lane....crazy...

do you notice how fossy only ever criticises and almost never has anything sensible, useful or (don't be ridiculous) constructive to say?

i wonder if he ever answered a question at school?
probably not - indeed he was almost certainly too busy pontificating even at that early age to notice that he had been asked anything

dreamcatcher - 16 Feb 2014 18:30 - 36705 of 36709 edit this post

Fred you are a raz pe fin vye granmoun. :-))


= A boring old fart. :-))

The vote for Scotland to join the EU has to be unanimous. Any country can use its veto and that includes the UK.

As I'm having a rant I might as well include "the mobile phone and coffee spill drinker"......what is this ?.....buy a one litre plastic jar of coffee (it's got to be big).., make sure the lid's not on properly.... check all emails at rushhour time in heavy pedestrian traffic and walk fullpace in a straight line : now the game is to bump into as many people as possible and get to the office or underground train with nothing left in the cup, but on the way we will have had more fun than on the dodgems at the fairground and drenched quite a few people on the way......and we musn't forget the already planned apologies "oh..sorry...I didn't see you".....no....you were blinkin' checkin texts and emails....I think we ought to introduce inspectors armed with remote paving stone rise devices just for this urban menace !.....(rant over)....

Anybody having trouble logging into their Barclays brokers account ?

Dreams,

Your are looking in the mirror again,

======

Haze,

If Scotland applied, I don't think England would be stupid enough to block them from joining the EU.

Besides if Cameron was in "power" and after his failed "renegotiation with the EU" and he held "his" "referendum"," which he "would" have to hold, (unless of course he is a bigger liar than I think he is), England will have opted out of the EU and have no authority with the acceptance or not of Scotland. (If you believe the fascist right wing of your party,)

I don't think Miliband would be so stupid as to wish to withdraw from the EU and it would be economical folly to try to stop Scotland from joining.

Trying to block Scotland's entrance to the EU would be a spiteful reaction which one could expect from the little boys of the torrid party, but I would think Miliband would be above such and action and would prefer a Scottish economic ally.

We will see.

But Cameron is getting his knickers in a twist again.

But as he said he is one of the Greenest Prime Ministers ever and Money is NO OBJECT, while he disconnects more and more from the West Country, the North and Scotland.

I thought Cameron said months ago that he wasn't going to get involved in the debate about Scotland becoming independent and I thought at the time it was a very sensible comment. Let them get on with it, he is in a no-win situation no matter which line of arguement he takes, just give that idiot Salmond enough rope and he will surely hang himself eventually,hopefully.

Cameron has already put his big feet in the argument, and he can duck and dive, but he can't hide, while wee Alex is looking for him.

North of the Border the hunt is out for him.