Brexit, for once some facts.

gray198

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 4, 2012
1,592
1,069
it's a bit ironic the health and Safety have banned the WI from taking home cooked cakes into hospices unless they have certified kitchens, and yet people are catching listeria from food brought in from certified kitchens. I doubt that people who are in hospices are going to be worried about catching anything from WI cakes. Anyone looking in would think we have gone mad
 

gray198

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 4, 2012
1,592
1,069
the particular danger regarding our NHS in the context of FTAs after brexit, in particular with the USA, is the competition and potential business for PR firms to 'privatise' the NHS is this: private hospitals.
Pressure will be put on any conservative government to open up the procurement to American private hospitals. Let's face it: you sign away your right to sue if you want an operation done in a private hospital while the NHS can easily be sued if you feel that your operation is not done as well as it should be. This is an example to illustrate the way the NHS can be 'sold'.
I think it will come to a time where it is going to be a mix of public and private. In fact it probably is already.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: flecc

Wicky

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2014
2,823
4,011
Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
I think it was allowing the Eastern European nations into the EU before they were viable that eventually tipped the balance of opinion. This was compounded by the Blair government allowing uncontrolled migration from these countries, and then accusing anyone who questioned it of being a racist
Some voted for Brexit time travel

 

Wicky

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2014
2,823
4,011
Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
it's a bit ironic the health and Safety have banned the WI from taking home cooked cakes into hospices unless they have certified kitchens, and yet people are catching listeria from food brought in from certified kitchens. I doubt that people who are in hospices are going to be worried about catching anything from WI cakes. Anyone looking in would think we have gone mad
I wote an April 1st article a few years back about cricket clubs needing to have their cricket teas prepared in council approved and registered kitchens - caused a bit of a riot!

Sadly lost the article in a website upgrade but here's another I wrote :) https://www.necl.co.uk/index.php/news/7-age-limits-eyesight-guidelines
 
  • :D
Reactions: oldgroaner

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
20,383
16,880
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
it's a bit ironic the health and Safety have banned the WI from taking home cooked cakes into hospices unless they have certified kitchens, and yet people are catching listeria from food brought in from certified kitchens. I doubt that people who are in hospices are going to be worried about catching anything from WI cakes. Anyone looking in would think we have gone mad
I think it's about 10% of the operations are subcontracted out at present to private hospitals such as cataract, hip replacement etc. The NHS can't compete if forced to operate in a market, all the low hanging fruits will be picked by the private sector. You are looking at possibly 75% of operations to be farmed out in case of unfettered access to competitive tendering.
 

oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2015
23,461
32,613
80
RE the FTA USA-UK
"This project was initiated and led byandIFT is a private, not-for-profit, nonpartisan research organization that makes the intellectual and moral case for free trade and sees Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union as a unique oppor-tunity to revitalize the world trading system.
And the first non-partisan non profit etc organisation named from the UK was
The Adam Smith institute
UK government funding

The British government has funded ASI with millions of pounds for various "consulting" activities around the world, and it certainly is curious that a Labour government would pass many such contracts to an avowedly right-wing/neoliberal insitution. The House of Commons hearings revealed the following funding for international operations:



YearProject titleCurrent value (�) (original contract value plus cost of any increases or extensions)Country
1999PR Unit Support for Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC)
430,625​
Tanzania​
1999Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant
1,718,736​
Guyana​
1999Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy
560,752​
Zimbabwe​
1999Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa
3,667,571​
India​
1999Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department
9,131,555​
West Bank and Gaza​
1999Additional Support to the Privatisation Board
106,241​
Bangladesh​
1999UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour
11,145​
Tanzania​
1999Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC
1,559,960​
Ghana​
1999Initital Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia
44,315​
Macedonia​
2000Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa
1,296,327​
India​
2000Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries
102,594​
United Kingdom​
2000Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR)
229,966​
Tanzania​
2000Russia Trade Policy Project
1,199,986​
Russia​
2001Conference on Disinvestment
70,000​
India​
2001Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms & Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh
80,000​
India​
2001PSCR: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour
54,924​
Tanzania​
2001Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment
89,500​
India​
2001Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme
92,870​
Global (non project specific)​
2002Trade Training for DFID Staff
20,075​
United Kingdom​
2002Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law
151,008​
Kyrgyz Republic​
2002Trade Training for DFID Staff-Bangkok
32,328​
United Kingdom​
2002Support for Capacity-building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank
3,277,815​
Afghanistan​
2003Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa
6,363,435​
South Africa, Republic of​
2003Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana
1,079,100​
Ghana​
2003Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II
416,435​
India​
2003Economic Support within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.
55,510​
Iraq​
2003Economic Development within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.
119,848​
Iraq​
2003Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office.
100,400​
West Bank and Gaza​
2003ITD-DFID Staff Training
288,685​
Global (non project specific)​
2003Asia Trade Consultancy
44,200​
United Kingdom​
2003International Lawyer within 1st Military Division HQ Basra.
131,868​
Iraq​
2003Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS)
111,255​
Iraq​
2003Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister.
75,800​
West Bank and Gaza​
2003Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Au

History

ASI founders and principals, Madsen Pirie, Eamonn Butler and Stuart Butler were students together at University of St Andrews, Scotland. In 1973, they left Scotland to work with Edwin Feulner, who became co-founder of the free-market think tank the Heritage Foundation, in 1973. Edwin J. Feulner is a founder and current President of the Heritage Foundation and was a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. The Heritage Foundation located in Washington, DC, is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential public policy research institutes.

After their apprenticeship in America, Eamonn Butler and Pirie returned to Scotland in 1977 to found the Adam Smith Institute, set up with the help of Antony Fisher of the Institute of Economic Affairs, one of the British think tanks associated with the Mont Pelerin Society.
And the IEA is on the list of sponsors of this madness of an ETA too.

How tangled is the web they weave when first they practice to deceive.
 
Last edited:
  • Disagree
Reactions: Fingers

oldgroaner

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 15, 2015
23,461
32,613
80
Which "we" are you referring to when you talk about "giving them a chance".
I ask this because it seems to be a strange way to refer to an equal partner under the 1707 Act of Union.
You're not supposed to notice that! England regards Scotland as mere property, and after they sign the USA-UK FTA, it will the UK in the position we Scots are now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

gray198

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 4, 2012
1,592
1,069
Which "we" are you referring to when you talk about "giving them a chance".
I ask this because it seems to be a strange way to refer to an equal partner under the 1707 Act of Union.
isn't this something to do with devolution where the Westminster government has the final say whether an independence referendum can be carried out.
 

Fingers

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 9, 2016
3,373
1,552
46
You're not supposed to notice that! England regards Scotland as mere property, and after they sign the USA-UK FTA, it will the UK in the position we Scots are now.

Fingers fingers are Crossed¡

I’d love to live a life on benefits, brown and the peeve.

Where do we sign up?
 

Fingers

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 9, 2016
3,373
1,552
46
isn't this something to do with devolution where the Westminster government has the final say whether an independence referendum can be carried out.

They had their vote. There are no do overs in referendums like that. That’s why the vote is so important and you look at all the facts before you cast your vote.

Same as Brexit.

They will have to wait a couple of generations before they get another chance. The SNP would be better off concentrating running the country. Their education and health policies are amongst the worst in the EU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OxygenJames

Danidl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2016
8,611
12,256
73
Ireland
Yes. But then who knows.

The trouble the Scots have when push comes to shove is that unlike us leaving the EU - we already have a currency of our own and the economic ability to go out on our own. To be blunt - the position the Scots find themselves in a way less secure and I think they may well decide not to go once they see these facts in the plain light of day.

We shall see.
The Scots were planning to leave when they had their Referendum..and would very likely have voted for independence, except that the Westminster Cabinet warned them that they would be expelled from the EU. This is the very thing the Scots did not want, so they voted to remain in Union with England. Had they got their independence, they would have had an opportunity to join the Euro etc.
Now At the time ,I believed that the Westminster position was wrong..and the only thing stopping their immediate accession would have been a veto from what would have been an England+ NI . The other 27 countries would have had no problems in fast tracking their application.
Of course it didn't matter what I thought, but it did sow enough doubt, that the independence vote failed.
Now since the Westminster cabinet has renegaded on that promise, and is now dragging Scotland out against its will, ,it is a new ballgame.
 

Fingers

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 9, 2016
3,373
1,552
46
The Scots were planning to leave when they had their Referendum..and would very likely have voted for independence, except that the Westminster Cabinet warned them that they would be expelled from the EU. This is the very thing the Scots did not want, so they voted to remain in Union with England. Had they got their independence, they would have had an opportunity to join the Euro etc.
Now At the time ,I believed that the Westminster position was wrong..and the only thing stopping their immediate accession would have been a veto from what would have been an England+ NI . The other 27 countries would have had no problems in fast tracking their application.
Of course it didn't matter what I thought, but it did sow enough doubt, that the independence vote failed.
Now since the Westminster cabinet has renegaded on that promise, and is now dragging Scotland out against its will, ,it is a new ballgame.
That’s not true though is it Dan.

Spain said categorically they would veto them. At best Scotland would have had to wait at least 12 years to become full members.

So wrong on that one there old bean.
 

Wicky

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2014
2,823
4,011
Colchester, Essex
www.jhepburn.co.uk
That’s not true though is it Dan.

Spain said categorically they would veto them. At best Scotland would have had to wait at least 12 years to become full members.

So wrong on that one there old bean.
20 Nov 2018 Spain would not oppose future independent Scotland rejoining EU - minister

"....one of the potential stumbling blocks for Scotland to rejoin the European Union was perceived to be the potential veto of EU member Spain, because of worries about its own secessionists in northeastern region Catalonia.

Spain’s government, then headed by Conservatives, has changed since 2014 and is now headed by Socialist Pedro Sanchez."
 

Advertisers