Brexit - am I stupid or what?

They are only doing that because they are trying to block out all the squabbling over Brexit

 

Those news quotes are typical of misdirection by truth! Numbers are easily manipulated when taken in isolation.

When you look at the figures the drug related older admissions has risen, over the last decade, from .017% of the population to .03%. A miniscule amount of the total. Some of that can be accounted for by the rise in the actual numbers of older people.

In the same news item there was this quote:
"Although total numbers remained lower than in younger age groups, older people had the largest rise in both drug overdoses and hospital admissions for mental disorders attributed to drugs."

It's a pity that the media are only looking for sensational news items without doing a proper analysis of the meaning and implication of them. Statistics! Pahh!!!!!!

 

Oh, we have had our "moments of " on this thread, Simon But there is a long standing and strong essence of friendliness and respect among GC members, that sincerely makes me proud to be a member, and which after a proverbial storm in a teacup has nearly always allowed the thread to continue.

Well, I don't think Shiney and I fall into the elderly category as we're both in our second childhood

 

I was told that I was in my third - but that's only statistics!

 

Well, put your thoughts of animal welfare aside, if you can, Simon.............and think about money and profit which is what basically drives any trade/trading. The UK and most countries within the EU transport live animals to other countries and, again, the evidence is that the UK is the only one that appears to adhere to fairly high standards regarding animal welfare of those animals being transported. One of the reasons for that is there is a close control and focus, within the UK, of animal transport to prevent epidemics. Eastern European Countries, France, and the Mediterranean Countries, North Africa, and the Middle East do not really practice the animal welfare standards that we would all like and, indeed, some obviously don't recognise or accept such standards as necessary as they are not signed up to any agreement.
Having said that, close and frequent checks made by Government officials have to be made to ensure that standards don't fail within the UK. There are export firms in Scotland that first export to Ireland knowing that animal welfare transport standards might not be as rigid. Several firms that did so have been closed down due disregarding the dictated standards.

Would you like my Bank Account number, Shiney???

And that is the crux of the problem, where European countries will bow to economic, political, and historical practices with that particular country, even though signed up to various agreements, all of which is, basically, driven by the God of Money and profit.


Some countries trading of animals would collapse should they thought of attempting to raising animal welfare standard due to the expense and resources needed. There are many factors involved but, as I said, it's all about money and what standards exporting countries can afford to, or want to, recognise.

 

Well, all tariffs are penalising and meant as a barrier as demonstrated by Trumps trade war with China while also including most other countries. America has spent years trying to break into the EU but doesn't want to accept any EU tariffs or trading standards/regulations. Canada spent years "negotiating the CETA free trade agreement before settling arrangements in 2017. So all EU or other countries tariffs impact negatively on African countries and is one of the reasons why Africa has turned to China for trade and finance.
So is the EU a force for good in international trade? Well, I guess it is, that is, if you are a member of a closed international club. The real question I think you mean, is the EU a force for good in Global trade? The answer to that depends on whether you're in the EU club or not. Even then of the original principles was that, using the Euro as a common trading/economic tool, all members of the EU would be equal, eventually, in trade and wealth, but with regard to the Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain that has not been effective, and while the recently joined East European countries have benefited to a degree it is only a degree, and they are also able to maintain their historically low standards and regulations in many areas basically being allowed to ignore EU standards while the EU discreetly turns a blind eye. The EU is not the perfect solution that it aspires to be and there appears to be a radical Right Wing reaction rising among it's members that is causing political unrest within the EU itself.
That fact seems to underline a personal, but growing, view that one of the EU's errors was to mutate from a trading organisation to a political organisation.

 

and men

I give my Winter fuel allowance to charity and charity starts at home and after 60 years working my nuts off and serving in the armed forces I feel that I am entitled to it

 

Hello this is all I can say about "Brexit" Baa

Just took this one

 

Good evening vote just taken are government found in contempt

Yes 311
No 293

Gov to publish full Brexit legal advice

I just love this thread and now I am waiting for someone to explain what this means to a wise but not a political aware Owl