Britain's next leader

[SteveH]

Quite, StevenH.

Also, Jeremy, if you use 'Esquire' (Esq), you don't put 'Mr'.  He would either be Mr Harrowby Hall or Harrowby Hall, Esq.

Indeed. Esq. strictly speaking belongs to men with the legal status of gentleman, one step up from oiks, peasants and riff-raff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squire#Village_leader

[Robbie]

American 'lawyers' use 'Esquire', I think that applies to both women and men.

[jeremyp]

Quite, StevenH.

Also, Jeremy, if you use 'Esquire' (Esq), you don't put 'Mr'.  He would either be Mr Harrowby Hall or Harrowby Hall, Esq.

No, no, no, that's all wrong - it should be A B Hall, Esq. That is initials plus surname, comma,

But even when I was at Secretarial College back in 1954 the dapper and excellent English teacher told us that Esq. was obsolete! His always well reasoned statements about how and why a person should be addressed in a letter and the format of a letter should be such and such I took with me to the various jobs I had.

I've been told off by two women now. Didn't Rees Smeg have any rules about women not gainsaying men like back in the good old days when you could have them flogged for not ironing your shirts properly and children were to be seen in the mills and mines and not heard?

[Alan Burns]

 

Relating to your views on Brexit from the Searching for God thread -

I can remember before we joined the EU (then known as the Common Market) when we had good trade relations worldwide, particularly with the counties in the British Commonwealth.  We lost all this when we joined, because of the exhorbitant tarrifs imposed by the EU for dealings outside Europe.  We also lost most of our fishing rights from the 50 mile coastal zone.

There is a whole world outside Europe  The EU is just a dreadful self centred cartel which restricts free trade in order to give unearned profit to its central body in Brussels.  When it finally collapses it will be better for all.

[ProfessorDavey]

I can remember before we joined the EU (then known as the Common Market) when we had good trade relations worldwide, particularly with the counties in the British Commonwealth.  We lost all this when we joined, because of the exhorbitant tarrifs imposed by the EU for dealings outside Europe.

There is a whole world outside Europe  The EU is just a dreadful self centred cartel which restricts free trade in order to give unearned profit to its central body in Brussels.  When it finally collapses it will be better for all.

The notion of us prioritising trade with countries on the other side of the world, with rather few people and therefore small markets, over the biggest markets in the world right on our doorstep was always bonkers. And it still is.

You aren't going to recreate the value and ease of trade with France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands etc by trading with Australia and New Zealand however much your backward looking 1950s rose tinted specs might wish you to think.

And those countries know that too - Australia is much more interested in developing trade links with Japan, China, Singapore etc than with the UK.

[torridon]

The notion of us prioritising trade with countries on the other side of the world, with rather few people and therefore small markets, over the biggest markets in the world right on our doorstep was always bonkers. And it still is.

You aren't going to recreate the value and ease of trade with France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands etc by trading with Australia and New Zealand however much your backward looking 1950s rose tinted specs might wish you to think.

And those countries know that too - Australia is much more interested in developing trade links with Japan, China, Singapore etc than with the UK.

and that's not to mention the sheer idiocy of choosing to buy your produce from the other side of the planet rather than from our nearest neighbours when we need to reduce food miles and carbon emissions.

[Aruntraveller]

and that's not to mention the sheer idiocy of choosing to buy your produce from the other side of the planet rather than from our nearest neighbours when we need to reduce food miles and carbon emissions.

Indeed, I was in Sainsbury's on Wednesday trying to buy satsumas (or equivalent). They were all from Peru. Peru for goodness sake! Spain's just down the fucking road.

Didn't buy any.

[jeremyp]

Indeed, I was in Sainsbury's on Wednesday trying to buy satsumas (or equivalent). They were all from Peru. Peru for goodness sake! Spain's just down the fucking road.

Didn't buy any.

Maybe Spanish satsumas aren't in season at the moment.

[Aruntraveller]

Maybe Spanish satsumas aren't in season at the moment.

I've never noticed the lack of Spanish fruit in equivalent seasons in the past.

[Roses]

Relating to your views on Brexit from the Searching for God thread -

I can remember before we joined the EU (then known as the Common Market) when we had good trade relations worldwide, particularly with the counties in the British Commonwealth.  We lost all this when we joined, because of the exhorbitant tarrifs imposed by the EU for dealings outside Europe.  We also lost most of our fishing rights from the 50 mile coastal zone.

There is a whole world outside Europe  The EU is just a dreadful self centred cartel which restricts free trade in order to give unearned profit to its central body in Brussels.  When it finally collapses it will be better for all.

The so called 'British Commonwealth' was a DISGRACE, when you think of the way it was acquired. Little Britain is too small to stand alone these days, we need the EU as much as they need us, it is far better to trade with our near neighbours than those further afield. If it collapses Britain will be much worse off, imo.

[jeremyp]

Relating to your views on Brexit from the Searching for God thread -

I can remember before we joined the EU (then known as the Common Market) when we had good trade relations worldwide, particularly with the counties in the British Commonwealth.  We lost all this when we joined, because of the exhorbitant tarrifs imposed by the EU for dealings outside Europe.

Can you cite some specific examples of countries we used to have lots of trade with but now do not due to being in the EU?

We also lost most of our fishing rights from the 50 mile coastal zone.

What you mean is we lost the right to stop fishermen from other EU countries from fishing in our waters but you are ignoring the fact that our fisherman can now fish in other EU waters.

There is a whole world outside Europe.

But the EU is the largest single trading bloc in the World. We'd be stupid to leave it.

The EU is just a dreadful self centred cartel which restricts free trade in order to give unearned profit to its central body in Brussels.  When it finally collapses it will be better for all.

But we are members of the cartel. The people in Brussels are from all EU nations, one of them the UK. We are not victims ofd the EU, we are the EU.

[jeremyp]

I've never noticed the lack of Spanish fruit in equivalent seasons in the past.

You must have imagined the Peruvian satsumas: Alan Burns tells us it is impossible to trade with non EU countries because of EU tariffs.

[Outrider]

I can remember before we joined the EU (then known as the Common Market) when we had good trade relations worldwide, particularly with the counties in the British Commonwealth.

We also had a manufacturing industry, and a solid lead technologically on most of the places we traded with, as well as historic limitations on their capacity to trade in other places.  That was more than my entire lifetime ago, it's a different world now.

We lost all this when we joined, because of the exhorbitant tarrifs imposed by the EU for dealings outside Europe.

The tarriffs didn't change significantly, what changed was that we were no longer paying those tarriffs to trade with other places in Europe.  Stuff from outside didn't get considerably more expensive, stuff from inside Europe got considerably cheaper.  That's one of the key problems with leaving with no deal - we won't have a deal with anywhere else, either, so suddenly we'll be paying those tarriffs whereever we choose to trade with.

We also lost most of our fishing rights from the 50 mile coastal zone.

We negotiated those fishing right agreements outside of the European Community in the late 1960's - entering the EU meant that the EC countries could negotiate as a block with the likes of Norway and Iceland, and actually secure a marginally better deal.  If we drop out without a deal, we'll revert to the prior agreement which will see us lose access, overall.

There is a whole world outside Europe  The EU is just a dreadful self centred cartel which restricts free trade in order to give unearned profit to its central body in Brussels.  When it finally collapses it will be better for all.

There is a world outside Europe - in general it is either significantly poorer and further away, or significantly richer and even further away, neither of which puts us in a strong position to get good trade links out of it.

The EU is no more nor less self-centred than, say, the US, China or any of the emerging economies - we are part (for the moment) of that EU self-interest, and we benefit from it.

O.