@clueless1 As a man with a young family you should be in bed at this time and not up and around with oldies like me
I run a lot of committees, but they do get things done properly because I don't allow messing around or prevarication - but I understand what you mean and agree with you
Good morning committees are OK as long that there is only one man in charge just like @shiney to tell the other's which way to vote
The real story behind that is that Norway has concrete evidence of a number of planned terror attacks, and they have raised their level of security to help prevent them. At present, people travel freely between Sweden and Norway, often without any kind of identification. To prevent the possible entry of terrorists from Sweden the "border closing" is nothing more than the fact that they are considering asking people entering to show positive identification documents such as passports, driving licences. As I have probably said before regarding the mass media. Why should they let the truth spoil a good story?
Such "stories" are legion at the moment. What makes the Express story special is that it is a story about the fear that the media frenzy has whipped up as this centre isn't even open yet! Here's another take................. http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/1...ll-be-raped-sexual-assaults-daniel-greenfield So having the second highest figures for rape (not quoted but the highest is quoted at 53.2 per 100000) means that you can run a headline suggesting that one in four Swedish women will be raped! Last night we were up the Cowley Road in Oxford which is immigrant centre of Oxford. It is not threatening. It is the opposite in fact.
That article is so ridiculous. They show two photos of a place called Vellinge. A beach, and some beach huts on the beach. Vellinge is an inland community, quite a way from the coast... As regards the "1 in 4 Swedish women likely to be raped" part. They've not taken Swedish laws into consideration. They are rather strict here. If, for example, I say to a woman "I think you are beautiful" it can be classed as sexual harassment. If I give a woman a friendly hug, it can be classed as rape... Incidentally, there are just as many sexual harassment claims made to the police here by men as there are by women!
I'm not very knowledgable about all the ins and outs of EU vs leaving, but I know a lot of the EU policies are very progressive and in many cases make our lives here better and safer, though they are unpopular. As a small example - car safety - under EU law the UK now has to change its (very dangerous) outdated car seat rules, that say babies 9mths or older can sit forward facing. Countries across Europe have known for years that study after study has shown young children under 2 are far safer rear facing (official statistics say 500% safer, that's a ridiculously huge amount!). There has been a lot of grumbling and complaints about this in the UK because everyone uses the "oh, my child was forward facing from 6mths and is perfectly fine" etc argument, but at the end of the day we now HAVE to change the law because the EU membership makes us, and it IS a far better result for our children's safety. My point is that left to our own devices, our government often make decisions based on popular opinion, or what is 'easy' or just how it has always been done. I've found that the EU has brought a lot of quite progressive changes and many of them, though not always convenient or popular, are actually making our lives better. I also think that we can have a bit of an overinflated view of ourselves. We are not the England of old anymore, our contributions in export etc have greatly diminished. We are a tiny country and our influence has been on the decline for a long time. I think cloistering ourselves away from the rest of Europe could turn out to isolate us in a bad way.
Environmentally too, without wanting to sound like a hippy if you look at the policies the EU has implemented about allsorts from emissions, pollution, conservation of nature etc, it's vast. They've made immeasurable differences. I think the current hot topic of immigration is clouding all the other important, more lasting consequences.
I think regarding the case you are making, "popular opinion" etc. is the whole point, its called democracy, and not allowing the nanny state to dictate to us, which is what the EU does all the time. Give us the facts about such matters and let us make up our own minds. "I also think that we can have a bit of an overinflated view of ourselves. We are not the England of old anymore, our contributions in export etc have greatly diminished. We are a tiny country and our influence has been on the decline for a long time. I think cloistering ourselves away from the rest of Europe could turn out to isolate us in a bad way." I dont particularly want to influence any other countries, and as far as is possible, I dont want other countries influencing this one.
We're not going to be given all the facts before voting. We might find out what we put in compared to what we get back, but I doubt if we'll get to know how that 'windfall' would be distributed following a Brexit, because the politicians most likely be in a future government aren't going to tell us because they don't support that option.. Same with many beneficial EU environmental and employment laws, etc. Once again those campaigning to Remain wont tell us what they'd do if in government following a Leave vote. All they'll do is tell us what supports their current stance. Both sides aren't providing all the information, one perhaps because they can't tell what would happen, and the others because they don't want to tell us.
@pete I appreciate the sentiment, but in reality we as people are at the mercy of our governments regardless, we don't make the rules, we can't enforce our will, we ARE dictated to, in this day and age we all live in a "nanny state" - in the EU or out of it. For example our own government just rejected a petition signed by almost 1 million of their people asking for the meningitis B vaccine to be offered to all children, not just newborns. Many more millions who didn't go online and sign the petition will be in agreement, but it doesn't matter, the government said no, so our opinions don't matter, there is no recourse. The few in power ignored what countless numbers of their people want and instead did what they wanted. Isolationism is all well and good when you live in a vast continent full of natural resources etc. It's a completely different situation when you live on a tiny island. It's impossible to not be influenced by other countries, we all share this world we live on and the reality is that what affects one of us, has consequences for us all. I think with regard to our environment especially we DO need protective policies in place, "nannying" us, as historically we have made very poor decisions and caused a lot of damage, and if our planet has any hope of a future we MUST start working together. At the end of the day we have been part of the EU since the early 70s, that's over 40 years now. I worry what turning our backs on all our neighbours will do. I think it will leave us far weaker. If you actually look the EU don't even have exclusive power to dictate laws in most aspects anyway!
Cant really see how not giving children a vaccine has anything to do with the nanny state, if they were to make a vaccine compulsory, then that would be the "nanny state". I dont believe leaving the EU would mean isolation, and cant actually understand why people say that. There are lots of countries all around the world that are not isolated, and dont belong to the EU or any other large "talking shop" that costs billions just to run. As to the enviroment, what does the EU do to help our enviroment? Apart from put pressure on businesses to conform to stringent rules.
So, because we have been a part of it for 40+ years we shouldn't reconsider our options? Forty or so years ago what the British people voted in for has evolved and morphed into the EU of today. Forty years on and the world economies have shifted too. I think on both those counts it is absolutely right that we have a referendum and take a careful look at our options from both sides.
