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.

Then I hope the Dutch have more sense than to hold a referendum.

Check % of Total EU GDP to UK and % of UK GDP to EU.

Also, it is easy to say that if we lose EU "deals" and "influence" that the rest of the world will be generous when they think they have the UK over a barrel.


And once again in that the rest of the world is a better place to do deals, why aren't those deals already being done?

-=-==

Again, at the moment I think the UK trying to duck its responsibilities regarding "immigrants" from Calais and it is noticed.

But go back 3-4 years and I believe that I suggested the "transit" camps similar to the end of WW2 should have been set.

Those would have given the opportunity to vet "incomers" and sort out "dangerous" elements etc..

-=-=-=-=

Anyway, I have burnt my apple purée.

-=-=

Another thing.

I know both of us pressure cook Beans and lentils and freeze them for later dates.

Just, bought a huge can (East End) (2.5 of Kilo) of pre-cooked Chickpeas.

God knows why.

They appear OK, perhaps a little softer than I like and ready now to be frozen.

Perfect for Houmous and curries and casseroles etc..

I like wandering around Asian and Chinese Supermarkets.

Feel safer when I am in them.

9-)

i never use my pressure cooker for haricots of chickpeas, but they certainly freeze well

btw, many of the lentil family do not need soaking o'night and so not worth cooking off in advance

if you have a pressure cooker, you may want to have a little play with beef short ribs
normally they take many hours of slow cooking, but in a pressure, only 1.25 to 1.5 hours

i've yet to try oxtail so i'm unsure how well the flavour will develop

===============

reverting back to EU
whatever merkel's (and others) headlines may say, experience tells us that this is rarely more than domestic window dressing
as you and i also know from experience, the real stuff gets done over many many hours, days, weeks and even months behind closed doors

Some Beans lose or reduce their toxins when you soak them.

Chickpeas after soaking over-night take 20mins here or there depending on their age

Red and haricot beans 10-15mins. Etc

I put the in plastic bags and roll them in small amounts for freezing. Easy to snap off required quantities.

-===-

EU,

That was the method of choice, but with the hot heads and loud mouths, fragmentation and false ideas of nationalism and own values, I hope that negotiations are still carried out in that way.

However, I have doubts that what happens will be more than a few tweaks here and there.

Also, have a suspicion that some of the money behind the Brexiters was trying to protect various unspoken of financial arrangements. (Taxation, and overseas investments.)

the prob with pressure cooking pulses, is that they go mushy if o'cooked
doing them on the hob is easier in that respect, taking perhaps an hour

===============

EU
time will tell
as for your appallingly cynical view in the last para, i have no doubt that there are more than handful of both persuasions who are up to all sorts of shenanigans

the markets are playing it.

Fred keeps on repeating something that's already been discussed and answers
given, so it's obvious he does not read posts properly, only what he wants to
read, ie:

"And once again that the rest of the world is a better place to do deals, why aren't
those deals already being done?."

They are but only after they get permission from the 27 other EU countries
and with an export tariff put on.

And cynic is still under the illusion that the EU is in the process of reform, where
is this evidence?.

pot and kettle .... try reading what i wrote

And the UK is NOT avoiding their responsibility by not taking the hordes
in from Calais.

By the RULES of the EU these immigrants SHOULD be claiming asylum in the
first EU country they arrive in, French is a safe country they should be applying
there, if the French authorities are unwilling to send them to the original country
they set foot in then on their head be it.

Yes i have, and most of it is contradictory!!

ROSIE - are you going to start telling us again what a wonderful chap trump is?

what a truly awful choice the poor amis have
if this wasn't such a serious issue, you'ld think the scenario came from some parody film


=============

GB - contradictory like what for example?

The mass of immigrants coming from Africa/Asia has not stopped they
are still getting ferried into europe, they are NOT being stopped from
coming, or turned back, so how are the EU going to get any control of
their borders...THEY AREN'T!!!

now give the post reference to show that i had said any such thing .... or are you not even bothering to try to support the allegation you made about me?

h/t to leeds across the road.



Scots ready to pay into EU budget to keep single market access





By Alastair Macdonald | BRUSSELS

The Scottish government believes that contributing to the EU budget might be a price worth paying for keeping Scotland in Europe's single market if the broader British state leaves as part of its Brexit deal.

Fiona Hyslop, the external affairs minister, told Reuters during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday to meet EU politicians that the devolved administration in Edinburgh had already calculated that remaining in the single market would mean Scotland being a net contributor to the European Union budget.

"We understand that Scotland would be a contributor," she said when asked if Scotland, whose citizens voted to stay in the EU in June, would be willing to pay dues to the EU for market access, even if the United Kingdom is no longer a member.



More loonytunes here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-scotland-idUKKCN12J2K5

cynic , my answer if those two are the best of the yanks then they need help big time .
Clinton is a sick joke a liar and a vile human
trump at least is honest and as guts and speaks the truth

all new immigrants must be settled in Scotland ,

far from convinced trump is honest, but certainly clinton is (also) a pretty unpleasant specimen
neither should be let anywhere near the oval office, and i think many of the more intelligent amis think likewise

Scott Macnab: Scottish slump not down to Brexit

Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/scott-macnab-scottish-slump-not-down-to-brexit-1-4262052

When the Alex Salmond made history almost a decade ago by winning power at Holyrood and becoming Scotland’s first pro-independence leader he immediately sought to bolster the country’s economy. Scotland’s growth must be brought up to the same level as the rest of the UK, the former oil economist proclaimed. He judged that prosperity and the job security that follows was the best way to show Scots how a Nationalist administration could be trusted with the reins of power. And in fairness to Salmond he did exactly this. For the bulk of his time in office Scotland’s growth largely matched, and often topped that of the UK, providing an economic platform which the Yes side could camapign on in the 2014 referendum. Fast-forward two years and a widening gulf is now once again emerging between the economies of Scotland and the rest of the UK. The growth rate north of the border is now a third of that being experienced UK wide, official figures last week showed, and the situation is only predicted to get worse in the year ahead. The oil and gas industry crisis which has hit the country’s growth so badly in the last couple of years can hardly be laid at the door of Nicola Sturgeon. The First Minister has admitted that the downturn in the North Sea has left Scotland facing an “economic shock”. But it comes as Ms Sturgeon has taken to issuing weekly clarion calls for Theresa May to set out her plans for Brexit and bemoaning the lack of action to deal with the fall-out from the shock EU referendum vote. Meanwhile, business organisations north of the border like the Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses warned last week that more needs to be done here in Scotland to address the slide which saw growth of 0.7 per cent in the year to June – compared with 2.2 per cent across the whole of the UK. Perhaps most worrying, Scotland’s economy actually shrunk by 0.1 per cent in the first three months of the year. The other flagship target of the SNP Government to match the growth rate of smaller independent EU countries has also hit the buffers.



Scotland’s GDP was 3.3 per cent lower than these countries in March this year. That means jobs and livelihoods for working Scots struggling at a time of ongoing austerity. It prompted the former Scottish Government advisor Professor John McLaren to warn last week that if the flatlining Scottish picture had been replicated across the UK, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney would almost certainly be looking to step in to address the situation with measures like interest rate cuts. Of course, action to tackle the slump in Scotland in recent years has been taken by the Scottish Government. The First Minister herself unveiled a national action plan in February aimed at reviving Scotland’s dwindling manufacturing base after a spate of closures saw the disappearance of long-established Scottish factory bases for Texas Instruments in Greenock and Polaroid Eyewear in West Dunbartonshire. Entitled A Manufacturing Future for Scotland, it set out how ministers aimed to increase investment in the sector in order that it can “compete globally”, along with a centre of excellence and skills academy for the next generation of “makers.” And although this sector then showed some growth between March and June, it was only half the UK rate of 1.6 per cent. More worryingly for Scotland – once such a manufacturing powerhouse with its shipbuilding and heavy industry heritage – the role of our “makers” shrunk by 3.6 per cent over the year, while showing growth of 1 per cent across the UK.



The latest national economic strategy unveiled by Ms Sturgeon and John Swinney pledged to “foster a culture of innovation” to develop the future technologies which would provide the economic bedrock for the years. But a report by the First Minister’s hand-picked team of economic guru’s last week warned that Scotland now “lags behind the leading regions of the EU” both in terms of introducing new innovations and benefiting from the wider economic boost. The Council of Economic Advisers said Denmark, Sweden and Finland were among the nations which have higher innovation levels than Scotland and said a review is now needed of the way government in general supports this key sector. And of course, all of these problems long pre-dated the Brexit vote which Ms Sturgeon has shown such urgency in identifying as an economic threat with warnings of a “lost decade.” She set out her own measures to tackle this threat at the SNP conference last week with a tranche of new Government posts being established in Edinburgh and across Europe aimed at boosting trade. The aim is to ensure Scotland is seen as being “internationally competitive” with an “open economy.” But it comes in the week that many of the country’s leading chartered accountancy and finance giants have warned MSPs that “uncertainty” over the tax regime in Scotland could prompt many firms to leave and damage economic growth. Scots middle earners will face higher taxes than elsewhere in the UK under Ms Sturgeon plans next year, while Labour and the Liberal Democrats have set out plans to raise the basic rate of income tax. Labour is also calling for the top rate to be upped to 50p, with Ms Sturgeon saying she is supportive of the idea, but reluctant to introduce it in Scotland alone.

The policy is to be kept under annual review and it is this inclination towards tax hikes from Scottish political leaders which prompted Susie Walker, head of tax at Johnston Carmichael to call for a “fundamentally different approach to avoid a “long term harmful impact on the economy of Scotland”. Other major finance houses also called for greater certainty on the issue as Holyrood takes control over income tax rates and bands next year. The post-Brexit plummeting pound and soaring inflation is certainly a cause for concern, but the underlying economy across the UK remains strong. In Scotland, less so. And it is surely here where SNP ministers should be focussing their immediate concerns.

cynic , thanks we agree , Clintons take 10% of all monies collected into their own accounts , trump all goes to help others he does not take one penny

In reply to cynic post 74095..


cynic 74083

"by leaving ,i very much hope a catalyst has been provided that will force eu
to entirely overhaul swathes of key policies, ranging from fishing through
agriculture and of course freedom of movement"

"it is interesting that there are already moves to stop complete freedom of
movement and curb the influx of economic refugees"

Will that post do?

What you are 'hoping' for is NOT what is actually going on, and NOT what the
eu are planning.

Where is the evidence to back up your claims that "there are already moves to
stop complete freedom of movement" ?????

Who vetted these child immigrants coming in from France ... Stevie fecking Wonder ???