What did the EU ever do for us?

I voted to stay in simply because I didn't understand the implications if we left, the problem is the opt outers didn't either except through rose tinted specs over immigration. We shall pay the price of ignorance.

Tim.
 
What a fucking mess. Makes me *almost* want to vote for Scottish Independence if welcomed into the EU.

*almost*...
 
Seriously thinking of selling up my UK property and swapping my UK passport for a Dutch one...seeing as I live in the lowlands most of the time these days anyway.

What incentives are there for UK expats living in the EU to go back to mayhem and misery??
 
Chris_D said:
What incentives are there for UK expats living in the EU to go back to mayhem and misery??

Is living in the Netherlands better than living in the UK?

As far as contributions to the EU per capita goes, the Netherlands is by far the largest contributor.
Taxes are high here anyways.
 
GuidoK said:
Chris_D said:
What incentives are there for UK expats living in the EU to go back to mayhem and misery??

Is living in the Netherlands better than living in the UK?

As far as contributions to the EU per capita goes, the Netherlands is by far the largest contributor.
Taxes are high here anyways.
True Guido.
But overall it's just better here I find. True, taxes are higher and I'm currently double-taxed for a LOT of things, but that's offset by the higher standard of living in The Netherlands overall.
Put it this way; when I ended up in Hospital for 3 months with pericarditis I'm just glad I got sick here and not the UK as the level of care I received was truly exemplary. In the UK I could have easily ended up contracting MRSA!

And a big plus is that there's no 'culture of drinking' like there is in the UK. Go into any major city in the UK on a Friday night and I challenge anyone NOT to spot a fight/on-street puker/drunkard/p!sser every 100m! You don't get that here - peeps just go out to have a nice time and socialize.
Took me ages to get the concept of 'gezelligheid' but now I totally feed into it. Go into any major city in The Netherlands and you will be hard-pressed to find drunkenness and fighting....ok, except maybe some parts of Rotterdam :lol:

I'm here to stay, for the moment at least and with brexit looming I'm losing incentive to even think about returning to the UK anytime soon.

:)
 
Yes street violence is pretty low here and certainly gun related or stabbings/alcohol related etc. Not so 'opgefokt' as in other countries.
But its an expensive country and especially if you're a car enthousiast alas. (housing to store your car is expensive too...)
 
TitanTim said:
I voted to stay in simply because I didn't understand the implications if we left, the problem is the opt outers didn't either except through rose tinted specs over immigration. We shall pay the price of ignorance.
The problem is, Tim, that both side lied - nobody knew/knows exactly what will happen when we leave and anyone that says they do is talking bollox.

The truth is that any one campaigning for something will always present their view of the best possible case, those campaigning against it will present the worst possible case.

The government of the day decided to hold a referendum, the public voted, the government accepted the democratic decision, the article 50 notice was delivered, and, unless the government performs a, pretty unlikely, volte-face (it'd be political suicide), come March 29th we are leaving the EU.

There will not be a last-minute referendum that will change everything and people need to stop living in cloud-cuckoo land and accept that we're leaving the EU and make the best of it - it won't be the end of the world!

BREXIT will be neither a British Utopia nor Hell-on-Earth, it will lie somewhere between, just where remains to be seen but we will all get over the angst, survive and continue with our lives just as we did after the financial meltdown in 2007-8 - I'm sure we'll have it nowhere as bad as the poor Greek families that have lived through hell in order to remain part of the eurozone...
 
greg81 said:
What a f***ing mess. Makes me *almost* want to vote for Scottish Independence if welcomed into the EU.

*almost*...

I've lived in England all my life, but despite there being far more people in the UK living in England we never got a vote in the Scottish Independence referendum! :headbang: Why is that?

Let Scotland do their own thing - at least I'll no longer have to help subsidise the fishy party! :lol:
 
Doomed.......we’re all doomed!!

What I do know is that the politicians rarely get anything right and the predictions they make usually back up their own agendas. I take zero notice of any predictions any of them make.

It seems that other countries are also showing signs of resentment toward the EU and what is being imposed on them. It makes me wonder wether the Eu even has a future in the long term.
 
If we take the immigration 'thing' as a key point of the debate...it's something I've chatted with my London based European colleagues over the past year. To a person, they've all gone with the view that the rest of the UK are mostly racist and lack basic economic intelligence. The irony being that they are the racist, bigoted ones by holding that view of 52% of the UK population.

My view on the immigration policy is that I don't see what the problem is with a points-based system? If you have skills the country needs then you're welcome....if you want to come and work cash in hand and put your whole family through the social system then you're not. Is that just not common sense? What's the problem in saying that? If there is a problem with that, then why don't we open the borders to all countries to come in, why should it just be the Eurozone countries that get to benefit from generations of British families contribution to the infrastructure.

I live in the South East and it feels so busy, all the time, constant heavy traffic, crazy prices for housing, low wages for a lot of workers....doesn't feel like we could take a few million more people. I might be wrong, but it's a view.
 
PerryGunn said:
TitanTim said:
I voted to stay in simply because I didn't understand the implications if we left, the problem is the opt outers didn't either except through rose tinted specs over immigration. We shall pay the price of ignorance.
The problem is, Tim, that both side lied - nobody knew/knows exactly what will happen when we leave and anyone that says they do is talking bollox.

I think thats why at the time we were asked to vote I voted for the safe/er option to stay in simply because I didn't feel informed enough to make a decision, the gov't leaflet that came through my door at the time told me nothing. I honestly don't know what to think, I can see the millions we plough into the EU will hopefully be put to better use at home, but then I feel there will be price of freedom in Europe and the red tape that inevitably looks like it will be imposed, looks like driving in the EU will become more complicated, what will happen with import duty? when buying goods within the EU :?

Tim.
 
Angelus666 said:
if you want to come and work cash in hand and put your whole family through the social system then you're not.

EU nationals can't do that anyway, for example they can't claim housing benefit so hardly likely to be putting their whole family through the social system. I feel the immigration 'thing' as you say is the problem, most people don't understand it. Your European colleagues are probably right.
 
...by social system I mean enrol your kids through our schooling, take advantage of the fantastic NHS along with all the other social benefits we have built up over 100 years in this country....not just claim a welfare check. My European colleague couldn't have been more wrong, it's massively offensive to say that the British public are inherent racists when we are country that is the most diverse in the whole of Europe.
 
Mr Tidy said:
I've lived in England all my life, but despite there being far more people in the UK living in England we never got a vote in the Scottish Independence referendum! :headbang: Why is that?

Let Scotland do their own thing - at least I'll no longer have to help subsidise the fishy party! :lol:

Lul wut?
I hope thats sarcasm
 
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