The sooner we're out the better!

22 October

Saturday morning and all’s well. Even our feathered lodger was chirpy as normal yesterday, for which were pleased about cos we didn’t have to take her to the vet. Jan has an idea that she managed to pick up and eat something she should have done while we she was out and about in the living earlier in the day. Whatever, she’s fine now. Later today as long as the weather picks up, I’m off into town to trawl the charity shops. What I’m really after is a copy of a book I let go a few months ago, it’s on Photoshop Elements 12 and there’s a few things I want to look up in there. Of course, if I find a few novels on the way … well, of course they will join my wee library too.

Love it or hate it, BREXIT will happen. But now the EU officials are threatening to use French only for the negotiations for how it’s supposed to happen. I’ve been wanting out for years now, and that is the type of pettiness that has made me want out in the first place. At the moment they claim they don’t want the UK to leave, and yet they are going to make things as hard as possible for it happen; can you think of a better way to keep us in the club? I can’t.

The sooner we are done with them the better for the UK. Do you want an example? Canada has walked out on talk for a trade deal because one small area in Belgium who is holding it up. Why? Because the political system in Belgium needs the agreement of all its regional parliaments to agree to everything. Wallonia has said ‘no’ and that’s it. Seven years of time, effort and money down the drain for nothing. No wonder Canada walked out.

This one actually shows the major weakness in the EU. If a region of 3.5 million people can scupper such trade deals, then how can any system really be united? They can’t! There are issues over the policing of each state, the different justice systems, the standard of health care and education, and oh so many more that divides the EU.     

It might be pointed out the USA is a federated country and seems to work well. Does it really? I wonder? Each state has its own government yes, and each can make its own laws and courts system, organises its own education system, health care and so on. However, they all come together for defence. A trade agreement would be negotiated nationally and agreed nationally. So why does the USA work and the EU doesn’t? Simple really, The USA was formed in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence, followed by the War of Independence. At the time only 13 states were involved and the last to join the Union was Hawaii in 1959.

The ECC was founded just in 1957 and came into effect in in 1958, becoming the EU in 1992. So in reality it’s still a baby that needs to be nurtured. However, I don’t think that those who founded it foresaw that it would be run by unelected bureaucrats, or that it would make trade agreements outside the union so impossible to agree too. Nope; the sooner we are out the better!

Today’s photo is definitely Hedwig, no idea what happened to it yesterday …

Today’s funny …        

How many baritones does it take to change a light bulb?
None. They can't get up that high.