Brexit, for once some facts.

shemozzle999

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Juncker will have his State of the Union speech on the 14th September prior to the above - I wonder how they will compare.
 

trex

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May 15, 2011
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the EU will kick itself for not offering Cameron a better deal, the same way Cameron would regret for not adding something to make the winning margin to be a clear cut. The country is split in the middle, there is no way a clear cut brexit or a second referendum is going to get the support of a clear majority.
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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The country is split in the middle, there is no way a clear cut brexit or a second referendum is going to get the support of a clear majority.
So we'll end up with some sort of middle of the road compromise that everyone will be unhappy with.

That will be Britain back to how it's been from the start of the 1970s through to the referendum, a country at war with itself.

Ironically, the only thing that has historically corrected that situation has been a major war, uniting everyone against a common enemy instead of fighting each other.
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trex

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it's all Cameron's fault. With hindsight, it's glaringly obvious that a yes/no question is a stupid way to vote.
 

oldgroaner

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Off topic chuckle of the day
"
Microsoft apologises after Bing translates ‘Daesh’ into ‘Saudi Arabia’
The text translator’s blunder put down to crowdsourced suggestions after anger from Saudi officials and social media called for countrywide boycott"

As the saying goes "how to win friends and influence people"
Will heads "roll"?
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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Here's as sign of what the EU can do!
"
Apple ordered to pay up to €13bn after EU rules Ireland broke state aid laws
European commission says country afforded Apple illegal help with tax breaks but Dublin vows to appeal against the ruling
The commission said Ireland’s tax arrangements with Apple between 1991 and 2015 had allowed the US company to attribute sales to a “head office” that existed on paper only and could not have generated such profits.

The result was that Apple avoided tax on almost all profits from sales of its products across the EU’s single market by booking the profits in Ireland rather than the country in which the product was sold.

The taxable profits of Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe did not correspond to economic reality, the commission said. Apple paid an effective tax rate of 1% in 2003 on profits of Apple Sales International. The rate dropped to 0.005% in 2014."

Of course, nothing like this happens here, does it???
 

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
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Here's as sign of what the EU can do!
"
Apple ordered to pay up to €13bn after EU rules Ireland broke state aid laws
European commission says country afforded Apple illegal help with tax breaks but Dublin vows to appeal against the ruling
The commission said Ireland’s tax arrangements with Apple between 1991 and 2015 had allowed the US company to attribute sales to a “head office” that existed on paper only and could not have generated such profits.

The result was that Apple avoided tax on almost all profits from sales of its products across the EU’s single market by booking the profits in Ireland rather than the country in which the product was sold.

The taxable profits of Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe did not correspond to economic reality, the commission said. Apple paid an effective tax rate of 1% in 2003 on profits of Apple Sales International. The rate dropped to 0.005% in 2014."

Of course, nothing like this happens here, does it???
Isnt that what Corbyn wanted to do to Starbucks and others?
Why cant we do the same here,that would pay for the NHS and stop all this dodgy offshoring.
KudosDave
 

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
5,566
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Do we have a plan on Brexit?
Does May have a plan on Brexit?
Does Hammond have a plan on Brexit?
Does Davis,Fox and Boris have a plan on Brexit?
Does any Leaver have a plan on Brexit?
Baldrick,we need urgently a cunning plan.
I know sir we say 'Brexit means Brexit',that gives a clue to our plan,doesnt it?
KudosDave
 
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oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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From the Independent.
"
Theresa May rules out second EU referendum or election to decide terms of Brexit
Ms May is expected to trigger Article 50, the untested protocol for a member state leaving the EU, in early 2017 after government lawyers ruled out invoking the formal procedure this year.

However, some reports have suggested the Prime Minister, who has repeatedly pledged to make a “success” of Brexit, could push back the timetable because her new Brexit and International Trade departments are not yet ready to enter the formal negotiation process.
I wonder it they ever will be ready?

Now how will that go down with the Brexit Fans, who are faced with this ultimatum?

Brexit is what we say it will be, so forget any notion you have any say in the matter, said a Government source.

Bang goes the power of the people!
Didn't last long did it?
What happens if Brexit is not to their taste?

"You lost, get over it!" comes to mind somehow.
That phrase "sings" doesn't it?;)

I wonder how many who voted leave still believe When and if we do, they will have achieved anything at all ?
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Isnt that what Corbyn wanted to do to Starbucks and others?
Why cant we do the same here,that would pay for the NHS and stop all this dodgy offshoring.
KudosDave
Our own guilt prevents it, sheltering as we do so many Crown Protectorates, a posh name for tax havens.

The Virgin Islands, The Isle of Man and The Channel Islands for example.

Shutting that lot down would result in more enemies than we could survive. Just look at the way the US government leapt to Apple's defence in the current case.
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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That would be the same US government which believes it should be exempt from parking tickets and charge zone fines in central London!.......unless they have recently decided to pay up?

Tom
No, they still refuse to pay Tom.
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Why should they pay fines on their own aircraft carrier? [emoji1]

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
It's not the fines that's upsetting us, they are not liable under diplomatic law.

It's the congestion charge for entering the central zone, which is a charge for using the roads in that area, basically a toll. There is no diplomatic immunity for that and they should pay. When their people have used the couple of toll roads and bridges that we have in Britain, they do pay, an admission of liability. When they use car parks they pay, another admission of liability for such facility charges.
.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,216
30,617
is it us that would have too many enemies; or a corrupt political class working towards well paid jobs in the private sector post politics, for multinationals, organisations like price water house cooper, with fingers in many pies, and elastic morals? i.e. is it that our representatives are really largely owned by corporations and offshore companies? that their essentially like Jeremy Hunt, ex minister for Murdoch, now for private healthcare companies?
In that sense yes, but as a country we'd suffer if we shut down the tax advantages of the thousands of companies using our Crown Protectorate Tax Havens.

If the US government puts the political boot in just for Apple, imagine the reaction to hurting huge numbers of their corporations. Compared to that, Brexit would seem like a slight itch.

It will never happen of course, we wouldn't dare.
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oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2015
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From the Independent.
"
Theresa May rules out second EU referendum or election to decide terms of Brexit
Ms May is expected to trigger Article 50, the untested protocol for a member state leaving the EU, in early 2017 after government lawyers ruled out invoking the formal procedure this year.

However, some reports have suggested the Prime Minister, who has repeatedly pledged to make a “success” of Brexit, could push back the timetable because her new Brexit and International Trade departments are not yet ready to enter the formal negotiation process.
I wonder it they ever will be ready?

Now how will that go down with the Brexit Fans, who are faced with this ultimatum?

Brexit is what we say it will be, so forget any notion you have any say in the matter, said a Government source.

Bang goes the power of the people!
Didn't last long did it?
What happens if Brexit is not to their taste?

"You lost, get over it!" comes to mind somehow.
That phrase "sings" doesn't it?;)

I wonder how many who voted leave still believe When and if we do, they will have achieved anything at all ?
You know Baldric, mused Blackadder,
Thinking about the stance taken by Mrs May, with such an air of "finality" to her decision makes me ponder the possibility that this is in fact a well prepared Exit strategy, to give her a handy escape route if good or at least "saleable" to the Brexit voters terms cannot be obtained.

How convenient it would be for howls of protest prompting the remain MPs and by then some of the others too, calling for her resignation, and inducing the fall of the Government?

Quite a subtle plan Sir said Baldric but she is such a nice person, she wouldn't do that would she, after telling us "Brexit is Brexit"?:)
 

oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2015
23,461
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80
Telegraph Today
"
Apple tax: Downing Street says tech giant 'welcome' to come to UK after EU orders Ireland to claw back £11bn

Then came the deliberate lie

Asked if Apple could negotiate with the Treasury over tax, he said: “We have made clear that all companies that are registered in England pay the tax that they owe.”

Well now: when did this Miraculous Change come about? what happened to Google and Starbucks?

So this is likely to be the outcome for the future.
Corrupt low tax deals that the public pay for, and one might also ask, why would Apple come here if we can't offer access to the EU markets?

Another Brexit Boom idea goes Boom!
The readers comments are interesting and show that many of them regard Apple to be above the law, and deserve not to pay proper levels of tax as they deserve not to for the jobs they create?

Too many Companies are operating outside the law, especially if it comes from the EU, forgetting of course in this instance that the Irish Government had previously signed to agree to the EU laws it had then with Malice and Aforethought as it says on a charge sheet, broken when it suited them.

I recall reading a thesis that we had reached a point in evolution where intelligence had peaked and was entering a phase of decline.

I initially regarded it as nonsense, but some of the comments from readers of the Murdoch papers tend to give validity to the idea, there are of course voices of reason too, but they are not in the majority alas.

 
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