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Got Flu Jab on Friday (4th year in a row I've had it, with no side-effects), this time had slightly itchy arms on Fri evening, then on Sat was helping at a PAGB event in Belfast and during the day I developed a severe rash all over my body - mad itchy!!!!, got cream from docs & hope it clears in a few days, v little sleep since 
Canals and Rivers trust is renovating some canal locks near us and they have drained one of the pounds. The barrier round the pound reads 'Canal dewatered'.
'DEWATERED'? The word 'drained' has several advantages: the word exists, it is shorter saving time and money on printing) and people know what it means without wondering what the hell you are on about.
The news that our financial wizards are thinking of upping VAT to 25%!
Come out of €urope, knock off the 20%VAT and our cost of living will drop.
VAT was originally charged with the rewards going to pay our membership costs, not to get the Government or Stock Exchange whizz kids out of the sh1te.
Quote: Come out of €urope, knock off the 20%VAT and our cost of living will drop.
Yes but your income tax would have to double! 
I have a book on British cars from 1952: long before the UK joined the EU. It shows the prices before and after "Purchase Tax"............... which was a whopping 55%. Makes VAT look quite reasonable!
Even if VAT went something else would have to replace it.
Quote: Even if VAT went something else would have to replace it.
Of course it would, but it doesn't ease my grump!
Somebody's got to pay their bloody expenses, so why not us?
preparing for a month long exhibition in March, with a meeting about it tomorrow, I woke at six this morning and realised that I couldn't remember seeing the documentation relating to it recently.
Its taken me 3 hours of hacking through my PC folders and paper work to finally be able to recreate what I needed as it somehow had got mis-filed and, in part, corrupted - a real pain in the bum
Quote: We are told the amount of trade we would lose if we left the EU would have a disastrous effect on our economy
Not:
Quote: Tuesday 12 May 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UK trade deficit with EU still astronomical but trade surplus with US rises
Quote: Mr Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the size of the UK trade deficit with the EU was in each of the last five years.
Mr Davey: As published by the Office of National Statistics, the balance of trade between the United Kingdom and the European Union over the last years were as follows:
UK’s balance of trade in goods and services with the EU
£ million
2006 - 29,616
2007 - 35,235
2008 - 28,582
2009 - 27,421
2010 - 35,534
so that's around £160 billion the EU has benefited in trade at our expense, how much better if the same effort had been spent getting business with the developing nations, we may actually have made a positive contribution to our GDP!
I guess the point is the EU would stop buying as much from the UK but we would not necessarily stop buying as much from them. So the trade deficit would widen.
As at 2008 57% of our global trade was with the EU. It would take a lot to turn that juggernaut around and focus on developing countries - who would no doubt want loans from us to buy our goods/services!
Don't get me wrong - I'm no fan of the EU. But the short term (i.e. a decade or two) effect of removing ourselves from the EU could wreak havoc with our economy. UKIP tend to gloss over that!
If we were to withdraw from the EU we would lose the following companies from our Economy, who would relocate to mainland Europe so they wouldn't have to pay import duties:
Nissan, Toyota, Honda, and other car/van related companies - and dont forget the supply chain for them, PPG, Akzo Nobel (the old ICI Paints), Countless Chemical companies eg Ineos, Amazon etc, etc all of which account for billions of export income - to Europe. I know most of these are not UK owned but they provide billions to the UK exchequer - all, or most of this would be lost in one pen stroke.
Its fine listening to some of the political rhetoric, but how will we fill the jobs that are lost, where will we export to to fill this gap, and don't say Australia, New Zealand etc, they get far cheaper imports from Asia, we couldn't compete.
The EU is far from perfect, but we do benifit from it too, both financially and in improved relations, from my dealings with my European colleagues most actually agree that EU bureacracy should be drastically reduced. Our percieved attitude to "Johnny Foreigner" doesnt do us any favours - all my collagues speak impecable English, what percentage of us can count ourselves fluant in just one other language for example (and no I dont).
Nick, if what you say is right (and I'm not so sure that all those companies would jump ship, considering the parlous state of the EU economy at the moment, nor that are they contributing that much to the exchequer) surely that just makes the case that our businesses should be encouraged to increase trade to the developing countries and reducing dependence on the EU ?
I don't think anyone is saying that we should leave the EU precipitously at a "pen stroke" but we sure a heck should be planning against it happening on starategic grounds if nothing else
Quote: Morning Sickness.
Just be glad you'll never have it.
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