The broad sunlit uplands of next March. Yeah, really. .

[Mike Bell]

Update on CMRs..... I got asked to show at border between France and Spain, by French Duane bod. So something they seem to be getting hot on, for some reason.......

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Update on CMRs..... I got asked to show at border between France and Spain, by French Duane bod. So something they seem to be getting hot on, for some reason.......

I thought that the idea of the EU Single Market, Customs Area and Schengen Area meant that there shouldn't be border controls between countries that belong. Or were you just stopped on a random whim?

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Update on CMRs..... I got asked to show at border between France and Spain, by French Duane bod. So something they seem to be getting hot on, for some reason.......

They've got your number Mike!

[Gerard C]

I dont recommend to mess with French Douanes. They have more rights on the road than any other institution like Gendarmerie, Police Nationale ou Police Municipale. Discussion is always the best way to go with those officers imho. As you suspect Mike its training time for those people!

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I thought that the idea of the EU Single Market, Customs Area and Schengen Area meant that there shouldn't be border controls between countries that belong. Or were you just stopped on a random whim?

There isn’t a border control but there is a Peage at the border, conveniently with no ‘30’ lane, so trucks have to stop. Easy then for the customs officials to ‘pull anyone of interest..... It was random, I suspect, Mike, and the only comment I got was ‘Morgan? they make racing cars?’

Fortunately it was dark so the fact that the CMRs didn’t relate to the specific journey wasn’t noticed! As said before, they aren’t designed for moving racing cars around Europe and back to UK.....

[Mike Bell]

While at Britney’s Pompey check in, whenever it was I left the UK, I picked up the glossy HMGov glossy 24page A4 booklet ‘No-deal guidance for hauliers’. This was available in at least 10 different languages!

So I’ve read it twice. Am I any the wiser? Absolutely not.....

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

While at Britney’s Pompey check in, whenever it was I left the UK, I picked up the glossy HMGov glossy 24page A4 booklet ‘No-deal guidance for hauliers’. This was available in at least 10 different languages!

So I’ve read it twice. Am I any the wiser? Absolutely not.....

Yes, but I bet you're not suffering from insomnia any more are you?

[delta]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

While at Britney’s Pompey check in, whenever it was I left the UK, I picked up the glossy HMGov glossy 24page A4 booklet ‘No-deal guidance for hauliers’. This was available in at least 10 different languages!

So I’ve read it twice. Am I any the wiser? Absolutely not.....

Mine is in Welsh . Yacci Daaaaaa

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by delta

Mine is in Welsh . Yacci Daaaaaa

Mind might as well be.....

[midgetman]

Good news for our travelling caravanserai of racers - UK departure delayed once again, it's now outside the racing season so at least we know where we are.

Welcome home, boys!

[Peter Mallett]

I'm in Albania, where are you?

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Good news for our travelling caravanserai of racers - UK departure delayed once again, it's now outside the racing season so at least we know where we are.

Welcome home, boys!

You mean I’m not stuck on the Algarve for the winter? I was counting on it all going apeshit this week!

That’s a bummer....

[Rudernst]

There are now more and more concerned citizens in Europe clamoring for a new referendum...

- by the European Electorate on the latest acceptable extension date by which Brexit has to be completed

3 choices offered on the voting slip

31st January 2020
1st of February
2nd of February

If no fully ratified deal by 3rd of February 2020 the Tunnel is to be sealed and flooded unilaterally.

joke aside,
seriously
My German friends have mostly now come to round to the fact that Brexit is inevitable and just needs to be gotten over with as pragmatic as possible.


RuE

[Peter Mallett]

Indeed, even Mrs Merkle thinks Britain will be better off out of the EU... Go figure as they say.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Indeed, even Mrs Merkle thinks Britain will be better off out of the EU... Go figure as they say.

I would be interested to see where she says that, Peter.

What I do know is that she has stated that she expects the UK to become a competitor to EU countries. She also believes that the UK will do so by watering down employment and safety at work regulations, and reducing taxation.

I have always believed that many Brexiteer politicians and their supporters are driven by the thought that they will profit massively by making the UK a tax haven after we leave the EU. It is not surprising that the principle financial backers for the various leave campaigns and those MPs are nearly all, if not all, are all from the world of finance, whether that be certain bankers, hedge fund managers/owners and/or assorted financiers.

[bauble]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

I would be interested to see where she says that, Peter.

What I do know is that she has stated that she expects the UK to become a competitor to EU countries. She also believes that the UK will do so by watering down employment and safety at work regulations, and reducing taxation.

I have always believed that many Brexiteer politicians and their supporters are driven by the thought that they will profit massively by making the UK a tax haven after we leave the EU. It is not surprising that the principle financial backers for the various leave campaigns and those MPs are nearly all, if not all, are all from the world of finance, whether that be certain bankers, hedge fund managers/owners and/or assorted financiers.

Mike the vote was by ordinary citizens, not financiers and business men, and we (I mean me) simply voted to leave the EU. To try and ascribe ulterior motives is just fantasy. 17.4 million politicians, business men, etc? I think not.

The remainers lost, and now seek to justify their opposition to a clean break, by scare mongering, and outright lies. don't be fooled, the public wanted out, the politicians wanted in.

I suspect that in a few years time if one were to look in the Oxford English Dictionary for a definition of 'Referendum' it would say; 'A democratic vote in which the losers win.'

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

What I do know is that she has stated that she expects the UK to become a competitor to EU countries. She also believes that the UK will do so by watering down employment and safety at work regulations, and reducing taxation.

Since the EU legislation followed the British model for HSE I'm surprised you would think that. We also have tighter rules about working hours etc. Having worked in EU countries I know what they do to circumvent the overtime rules. One office I worked in had its staff working 60 hrs per week.
They compensated by increasing pensions because they were unable to pay more than (IIRC) 10 hrs overtime per month.

I think you will find that our minimum wage is also higher than most, if not all, EU states, which is why people want to come to the UK.

But, crucially if businesses are making a profit then it is good for the country as a whole. As a businessman I don't understand your position on this.

As to low taxes etc. Why the hell not?

[VIVA GT]

Why don't they stop all of this faffing about changing the leaving date and applying for further extensions? I think they should pick a set date for leaving and stick to it.
In the circumstances I feel that February 31st would be appropriate.

[Mike Harte]

To Bauble: I think that you may have misread what I wrote; I am purely referring to politicians, such as our MP who is financially supported by certain Crispin Odey who is a very wealthy hedge fund manager. Then there is Aaron Banks who pumps money into many leave campaigns, but who chooses to have his parent company (financial and insurance) resident outside the UK, using the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and elsewhere so as to avoid UK taxation.

I could go on, for example, about Mrs Leadsom whose brother in law, whose hedge fund business is headquartered in the Channel Islands, supports her in her Brexit campaign. But I won't. Hopefully you will get the picture.

To Peter: You are talking about past and present as far as regulations are concerned. It is pretty obvious that Johnson and his acolytes' plans are to reduce protections and wages in the future; leaks from Number 10 and elsewhere appear to confirm this.

I am now, for the third and final time, a retired business man, and with fairly conservative (small 'c', and not particularly in a political sense) views. But, I would like to think, one who had, and still maintains, a social conscience. Wages, and work conditions, are very important elements in cost overheads, but a well paid workforce can reap considerable benefits for an employer because a happy workforce tend to be far more productive in the long term, in my experience.

[bauble]

To Bauble: I think that you may have misread what I wrote; I am purely referring to politicians, such as our MP who is financially supported by certain Crispin Odey who is a very wealthy hedge fund manager. Then there is Aaron Banks who pumps money into many leave campaigns, but who chooses to have his parent company (financial and insurance) resident outside the UK, using the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and elsewhere so as to avoid UK taxation.

I take your point Mike, and agree that the level of self-interest amongst leading figures on both sides of the debate is driving much of the legislation we are seeing, and the propaganda blatantly put out by the media from both camps. I still go back to my original point; the vote was heavily influenced by the adverse publicity put out by our government etc, but the majority still wanted out, and nothing anyone can say can change that. Maybe a second referendum might bring a different result, but the first one was definitely valid.


We should have been out years ago.

We may be on opposite sides of the argument, but I respect your views - as wrong as they are.*


* Honestly only kidding. You know me.

Cheers,

Bob.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

To Peter: You are talking about past and present as far as regulations are concerned. It is pretty obvious that Johnson and his acolytes' plans are to reduce protections and wages in the future; leaks from Number 10 and elsewhere appear to confirm this.

Mike,

I'm working for a Swiss Organisation to EU rules, I'm talking about now. I can tell you that we have educated the management into a higher standard of safety. I can also tell you that the employees, not contractors like me, are paid low wages and have to work long hours.

As to plans for lesser standard? Have you read that there is a plan to increase the minimum wage? This will likely mean taxes remain unchanged. The monies currently going to the EU will no doubt be used for this and other initiatives.

[Mike Harte]

It's OK, Bob, I don't take any of your nonsense to heart, anyway; in fact, I barely notice anything that you write!

However, like many people who voted to remain, I have, from the time that the result was made known, advocated that the UK must leave the EU, but it should do so on the best possible terms that it could negotiate so as to protect our industries, whether they be industrialised or service orientated, and thus provide for us and our families, now and into the future.

I cannot tell you how frustrated I have been watching and listening to politicians from both sides of the argument that just base their views on political ideology, and who just love the sound of their own voices. As opposed to, say, Ken Clarke who is one of the most ardent Europhiles in the Commons, yet who voted in favour of Mrs May's deal all three times and also last week's deal. Even though he doesn't, personally, agree with either of them. I wish that their were more MPs like him.

[Mike Harte]

Peter, let's not argue; we possibly have deeply opposing views.

However, I would add that one of my sons, who just so happens to be a fervent Brexiteer (we have agreed to not discuss Brexit) is off to Japan on behalf of his firm in the next few days to advise his old and new clients there on what is likely to be happening in the UK in the future. And the main message that he will be taking with him is that the UK, under this government especially if they win the upcoming election, will be becoming a low tax economy, one that will be beneficial for Japanese investment.

As his firm are advisers to Number 10 and most of the government departments, I think that they know what they are talking about.

And furthermore, I am also aware that lowering taxation can also have beneficial results for the government. My other son actually worked in the Treasury (on secondment) with Ken Clarke when he was Chancellor, and my son presented a paper (based on a computer model that he had written) to him proposing that National Insurance contributions should be reduced, and that this would increase revenue for the Treasury. The NIC reduction was introduced at the next Budget, and at the end of the first financial year after the change, the revenue increase was actually slightly ahead of his own figures. So it does work.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

The monies currently going to the EU will no doubt be used for this and other initiatives.

The monies currently going to the EU will presumably be used to cover things that the EU pay for like the farming subsidies (if not then the farmers are ****ed), development grants for deprived areas - then there's obviously all the money that Boris promised the NHS on his bus and also the vast sponge that will be all of the extra red tape and money spent on customs etc. (I assume that someone will be checking these reams of paperwork that we're going to be generating for customs).

There's going to be less than bugger all left for anything else.

[Peter Mallett]

And yet according to its own figures the UK pays a net contribution to the EU?