Uk Out Of Eu?

I was surprised to the news about the referendum to leave the European Union.

Also, I heard Scotland wants to leave UK ?

Whats going on over there? Any thoughts? Are things got that bad?

 

We will have a referendum in 2017 (If Tories get reelected)

Only 23% of Scots want to leave the UK. So there's no chance of Scotland leaving the union.

 

2017? Thats very far from reality then. Scots will have a referendum too, isnt it?

 

Yes.

 

The Scots wont leave. They like to get all braveheart when this subject comes up, but for a nation who speaks our language and uses our money, they aren't particularly convincing when it comes to telling us they want independence.

 

UK wanting to leave EU makes sense.. Any sensible country would like to leave EU. As the economical platform, EU has failed miserably..

 

From a business point of view I think that the UK leaving the 'common market', as it used to be called, would be a very bad move. However, the EU is in desperate need of reform. Some of the legislation that has been passed in recent years is completely ridiculous and works very much against fair competition. For example, the legislation on herbal supplements that cannot now be sold in the EU despite being used safely elsewhere in the world for hundreds of years and available throughout the rest of the world. The reason - to protect the interests of big drug companies who want to market their own remedies with no competition.

 

A few years back I did consulting for a company located in Cambridge U.K. They needed internet access for their small company. For a residence, the internet access would cost $180, but because they were a business the very same internet connection, with the same throttling etc. would cost the equivalent of $1000 U.S. My U.K. superiors sheepishly explained that the cable company charged more "because they can".

 

The EU is still the place to be,, while yes, it does have some problems, it is still a large market of 450 mil people. Most of which all use the same currency, one that may seem a bit weak right now, but one that will grow stronger with time.

We really need to push towards a more federal europe with a proper EU president and EU parliament.
Power should slowly be transfered from national governments to the EU parliament, only then will Europeans be ready to take on the economies of the USA and Asia.

 

That's all sarcasm, right?

The bigger a government gets, the less effective it governs. A single body of government controlling 500 million people can never deliver the kind of solutions smaller, more independent ones could. Let the countries remain independent. When you band together financially you are only as strong as your weakest link. And remember, the bigger you are the harder you fall.

 

Since Europe is wide open and has no protection, being out of it is the best solution while still being able to sell the european market whatever you want..

 

Those days of butter mountains and wine lakes are long gone.

Back in the day we in Ireland had a butter mountain, we could not sell it to Europe, so we tried to exchange with Russia for 10,000 AK47's but that deal fell through.

 

The referendum was just Cameron's way of ensuring you Brits will vote for him, is what I heard.

 

$180? No one pays that for a residence. I pay about $28/month at the moment (and have done for the past five years). Before that, I paid about $20/month with another company.

To get near that cost, it would have to be an all-in-one TV (all channels), Internet and phone (unlimited calls within the UK), which might come to $150.

Back then, $1000/month for a business connection would have been a dedicated line (and may have included costs such as digging up a road to install cables) @ 100mbit from from Virgin Media. A typical business connection costs significantly less (if you select a package equivalent to a residential one, which a dedicated line is not), about the same (or $15 more) than a residential one, unless it's SDSL.

What the cost of an Internet connection has to do with the UK leaving the EU I don't know though.

There's a slim chance such a referendum will go ahead*. It's just a ploy to win some votes as the Con-Dems coalition government isn't doing well and the Conservatives realise they are losing voters.

*The EU wouldn't want the UK to leave, regardless of the silly arguments politicians have at times. Labour will win the next election and (sensibly**) want the UK to remain, so a referendum won't happen. If a referendum does happen, the majority will vote to remain. A poll that states >50% will vote to leave makes for great headlines, but the last time there was such a vote (1975), the majority voted to stay as an EC (as it was then) member. The same would happen again as in the run up to such a referendum, people would be educated more about the ramifications of such a move.
**We do a lot of trade with the EU, so this would be affected (and probably negatively, it's already negative enough, we don't need it made worse). More "red tape" (there's enough as it is), less benefits to consumers (costs have gone down for some things and rights improved thanks to the EU, as well as dealing with competition issues). The UK is an important finance and business centre of the EU, ending our membership would impact this and be bad for the economy, jobs, etc.

As for Scotland, stOx summed it up well.

 

Sorry, I should have explained this was more than a "few years ago". It was actually in early 2001, and it was in Ely, a rural suburb of Cambridge. Broadband prices were higher then.

 

2001? That explains it. Back then it was expensive slowband. Glad things have changed since then.