Brexit - am I stupid or what?

Actually, longk, it's not The, at the moment, suspended Northern Ireland Government has the powers to reject what is really a mythical proposal by any Secretary of State that there should be a unification of the two states of Ireland. The historical facts of Ireland still have real ramifications should any Northern Ireland Government, never mind a English Secretary of State, propose such a unification and that is why the UK Government is extremely cautious in the way it is dealing with the border problem highlighted in BREXIT. There is no legal proposal or desire for a unification to be forced upon a Northern Ireland Government by a UK Government, such a move would restart the "Troubles" all over again igniting another bloody civil war.......and all political parties are more than aware of that.
If you ever visit Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire, which I highly recommend, stop off at St Peters Church in the estate Village of Edensor. If you go inside you will find a plaque on one of the walls commemorating an ancestor of mine who was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the 1800's and who was shot to death for his pains!!!!
Also buried there is Kathleen Cavendish, sister of J F Kennedy, who married into the Cavendish family, along with a number of my ancestors.

 

Yep, looks pretty straight forward and simple now............only need all Government Ministers, MP's and political parties to like it, vote for it, then get the 27 other countries in the EU to like it and vote for it......piece of cake!!!

 

I've never understood the phrase.......

"you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and eat it". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or is reasonable, or that one cannot or should not try to have two incompatible things





Let's face it the cake in not gone just because you've eaten it, it's now in your Belly!!

 

Which is exactly the point,longk..........quoting a "power" that is, in reality, completely irrelevant, in that such a "power" is annulled by para 3. It is a piece of legislation that is only there on paper and, as I said, no UK Government would even think of using it in any circumstances owing to the real dangers therein.
The history of Northern Ireland and the present state of two opposite thinking political parties in the present Northern Irish Government has brought about the present situation. The only desire for a unification of Northern Ireland and Ireland is with Sinn Fien, The Workers Party, and the Irish Government.
I could quote you reams and reams of legal powers, longk, of the Northern Ireland, English, Welsh, and Scottish Governments that can do this and that but, reality, none of them would either recognise the circumstances that would bring them into contemplation or proposal because of the effects of such action. Being given certain political powers does not mean that they are actually meant to be used as they are such a poisoned Chalice and, in fact, are written down as a legal agree to satisfy and pacify organisations likely to turn back to violence or political chaos. I can assure you that beneath Government buildings there are vast archives of legal documents that were/are meant to be political sweeteners and never ever to be used. Research on Northern Ireland will show that there is no desire, except for the political parties mentioned. The ordinary man/woman on the streets of Northern Ireland be it Catholic, Protestant, and non political, want a referendum for reuniification because they know of the dangers of a return to the bloody Troubles even though some Catholics support a unification. No referendum for a unification in 5 years or any other time period has been proposed by the Northern Ireland Government although other interested individuals or organisations might like to throw it into the pot every now and then.

 

As always, longk. That can't be said about what's been taking place in the UK and EU BREXIT "negotiations"

 

I'm going to a seminar today on 'preparing businesses for BREXIT'. I Brexited from business 18 years ago but am still nosey about what they recommend. I don't really expect to have much (or anything) to report back.

 

It's difficult to prepare for anything when there's no actual scenario as most likely. You have plenty of theoretical outcomes yet you cannot pour indefinite resource into accounting for each one. A business takes a best guess at this point based on gut feeling and the scaremongering press releases and bumf sent through the post.
A few things are likely, although not certain, supply chains from the continent will take a short term hammering, markets will dip, but it will all level out once again after the change is in action and people slowly adapt.
Best preparation is to expect short term pain, to look for opportunity within that time and to show resilience.

 

It was an interesting meeting and well presented. A solicitor that specialises in businesses did the presentation and listed all the things that a business should look out for, what pitfalls there could be depending on how hard a Brexit it would be and what opportunities can be grasped.

She di an interesting poll at the start of the presentation asking who voted Remain and about 80% of the people put their hands up. She then asked another question. If you had the choice to vote again, who would vote Remain? Only 40% put their hands up.

During discussion later on some of the ones that changed said that they had got annoyed by the EU negotiators but, I think, most of those that had changed were ones who had changed their business plans and were doing much better. I was surprised by how many had moved a largish amount of their business from the EU to non EU countries. This was both purchasing and selling.

The other reason they had done well was because of the drop in the rate of exchange and some had gone over to dealing in dollars.

Very interesting - but I expect that the ones that turned up we're the more go ahead businessmen.

 

There was a lot of discussion and some of them were already stockpiling just in case there was a delay in getting things organised afterwards.

One enterprising person had bought a very large warehouse, was dividing it up and renting it out to other businesses for their stockpiling.