Comments by "Edmund Bell-King" (@edmundbell-king4538) on "FRANCE 24 English" channel.

  1. We don't need to ask for anything, just make a statement of fact - they can then like it or lump it.
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  2. Wake up Europeans, the last thing you need is a German-led 'European' Army. You know where that will lead.
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  3. ​Ian, Because our fishing rights will revert to the UK come the end of the Transition Period. This extends out to 200 nautical (370km) off the coastline, giving the UK the authority to exploit and control the fish resources within their zone.This will have a major (negative) impact on incomes for French, Danish, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen.
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  4. Absolutely, lets get Sir Kier Starmer on the case - he'll sort it out to our advantage. Er, then again, maybe not.
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  5.  @horanm5  OK, hypothetically lets say the UK actually does walk away. How then does the EU member sates go about capturing new world markets to fill the Euro 80 Billion a year trade surplus they have lost after being excluded from the lucrative UK market? The EU's global market share has been shrinking for over a decade. I'd love to know what is the secret sauce you have to explain how they could achieve that. You're not a Scottish Nationalist by any chance, are you? They often throw out such comments without considering the difficulties that would ensue from such a policy?
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  6.  @texjohnson9208  EU influence around the world compared to UK 'soft power', head of the Commonwealth, with a permanent seat at the UN and the USA's closest ally. Think again.
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  7.  @thepianist1841  No, its actually sad that they cannot face reality as it is. They have to get under the bed covers and hope that the world will more to their liking in the morning.
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  8.  @johnbourne5068  No, he obviously doesn't.
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  9. Yep, until you lot start fighting each other, then it's 'where's Tommy Atkins'?
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  10.  @joeletaxi7956  The British have ALWAYS designed and built their own subs. Since the Trafalgar class we have built our own, entirely British nuclear propulsion system and also our own war-heads. We do co-share development of the Trident ballistic missile with our American friends. Many American submarine officers that have been on the Royal Navy's 'Perisher' course say, rightly, that it is the hardest attack submarine course in the world. The Royal Navy Submarine Service, while much smaller than their US counter-parts, are considered second to no one. We've had a long, excellent working relationship with the US Navy submarine service. I'm sure that will also be true of the Australian Navy once AUKUS gets going. It all comes done to trust. The US trusts the UK and also Australia as both close allies and military partners with a very similar world view.
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  11. It has - we're leaving.
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  12.  @mufflejoy  Dear Mufflejoy, since when has the EU ever shown any appetite for fixing its problems? Remember, it is always saying everything in the EU garden is rosy, nothing to to see here, so move along. So the UK did, and we'll get on with it.
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  13.  @wehavehugeproblems4857  Thanks for the tip - I'll give them a try next time I'm down at Cardiff Met for a meeting ;-)
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  14. Its hard to find Fish 'N' Chips for £4:50 these days.
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  15.  @philhaji-michael8471  The important fact for the EU is, there is an annual deficit for the UK in trading with the EU - averaging around Euro 80 billion a year. I think somebody should talk to those EU exporting companies and ask them if they would prefer to keep access to that lucrative market - I think we both know the answer to the question. It is the European companies that will lose out by the EU political class playing hard ball over a lost battle. There is no point in that, they've already lost this trade game to the UK, so they should concentrate on making the best deal they can for the benefit of their member states to cut off any potential risks of market assess being lost - instead they are just trying to make a political point. Remember, the UK can easily divert its trade purchases to buy EVERYTHING it needs outside of the EU. These are just facts and it is a more common sense approach. What is wrong with that?
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  16.  @philhaji-michael8471  You remembered wrong.
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  17. The AUKUS Agreement includes two leading NATO members - the UK and US. Both are far more committed to it than most EU/NATO member states.
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  18.  @philhaji-michael8471  Its a EEA Mark - check it out. Any company with electrical components - mine include - uses CE for its goods - not just for the EU but the wider EEA.
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  19. So, a sovereign nation with the 5th largest economy in the world, the largest financial services centre on the planet, with a world renowned innovative business and arts culture, that cultivated and uses the language of business, English, that has four of the top eight universities in the world, is a key founding member and guarantor of peace through NATO (a member that pays its NATO membership dues) and is also a power-house in international commercial law - that is a nation that cannot get its act together to formulate and deliver a decent trade deal with WTO members? Really?
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  20. The EU is the con trick my friend. How democratic is it, really?
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  21.  @wernervanham8760  Werner - yes you can, the UK has shown there is a way to parachute out of the EU prison.
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  22.  @chowwh308  You mean like how the french tried to screw the Aussies on their sub-par (see what I did there?) contract?
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  23.  trident3b  It means trading on WTO terms. The WTO is a member-driven organisation: the main decision-making bodies comprise all members and decisions are made by consensus - no one-on-one deals required.
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  24.  @KamenKunchev  Its NOT a threat. The WTO scenario is a real possibility now.
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  25.  @stewardcrow7747  No, in the EU, we were Rule Takers. Now we can be Rule Makers - its not to difficult to understand, is it?
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  26.  tehanomander  The key point is WE now have the Sovereign Nation VETO on Fishing Rights, NOT the EU. Not too hard to understand, surely?
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  27.  @stewardcrow7747  Actually, there has been a significant, on-going effort within UK Government in planning for a WTO exit scenario. There is no such thing as a 'No Deal' scenario - that is just a Left media invention. If we exit, we move to WTO, and then we'll trade with the EU on those terms - like many other nations do already. That is also EXACTLY why the EU will agree a FTA-style deal - to avoid such a scenario. The German's don't call the UK 'Treasure Island' without reason. We are a fantastic market for them, and a WTO scenario would not work nearly as well for them as would the FTA-style deal. I guess you are not a businessman/commercially aware or you would surely understand this is smart business..?
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  28.  @stewardcrow7747  Well, if your comments were based on actual data/facts that might have been helpful.
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  29.  @philhaji-michael8471  We DON'T need to trade with the Chinese to be a successful country - we already are.
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  30.  @philhaji-michael8471  You are unfortunately showing ignorance of how business and commerce actually work. Whenever a trade vacuum is created (such as the EU withdrawing from reciprocal and trading with the UK ), the vacuum is ALWAYS quickly filled by others. The Euro 80 billion trade surplus the EU has with us is a VERY enticing market to trading nations outside of the EU. Name a single item that the EU currently sell us that cannot be bought elsewhere on at least parity pricing basis - but most likely it will be offered at a lower price.
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  31. You show remarkable ignorance of what actually happened. Cameron came cap in hand to the EU and asked for better terms to allay the fears of the ERG in his own party. They said 'no way, we can't negotiate' (at least that is still true). The rest is history.
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  32. ​ @hauskalainen  True, that Conservative Government, was made up of Remainders, but the fact is, the ERG (European Research Group) led by Jacob Rees-Mogg could unseat any Conservative PM by withdrawing support and put the governments power in the House into a voting deficit. Labour/Lib Dems would have voted No Confidence in a flash. The EU in their wisdom refused to help Cameron out with the ERG. Hence, we got the Referendum result, leading to Teresa May, another election and now Boris Johnson. It was the EU's to lose, and true to form, they played a blinder - thank God. Roll on 31st December!
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  33. I have yet to meet anyone who was old enough to vote in the 1975 referendum that voted to remain in the EEC. Not a single person, and I have been asking that question since 2016.
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  34. Back that statement up with some actual facts. NATO is not split. Two of its leading members are partners in the AUKUS Alliance.
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  35. That would be a first. I'll get the popcorn.
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  36.  @stewardcrow7747  Erm, that is just not the case. We were paying through the nose and being belittled. British voters can remove their sitting parliament at the ballot box, not so the EU Commission. This is because we have left the Customs Union, the Single Market and cannot be over-ruled by the ECJ. We can now set our own course on future trade with any sovereign nation that we choose. This is not the case for EU 'captured' nations.
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  37. When did you EVER see an Aussie holding a white flag?
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  38. Well, if the EU negotiators have your level of 'intellect', he'll have little trouble completing the job in an afternoon.
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  39.  @KamenKunchev  Karmen, there is no 'deal' to negotiate when joining the WTO, you just accept their general trade terms - and your done.
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  40. So, they ARE elected and they DO interfere. As an example, we're leaving the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) - both Pillar I (BPS -Basic Payment Scheme) and Pillar II (Greening payments) will go. The UK Government instead is introducing (via DEFRA) ELMS (Environmental Land Management System) - essentially payments for 'Public Goods' only - no more Area Payments (which favoured large land-owners) or Livestock Headage Payments.
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  41. Yes, they will. As usual they'll do NOTHING - which is what they are very good at.
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  42. ​ @stewardcrow7747  Steward, Then it seems you really are lost, my friend.
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  43.  @stewardcrow7747  Stop rambling , give me a cogent argument or don't bother. I care not.
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  44.  @stewardcrow7747  Scotland wants out? Evidence for that. The Scottish Nationalists may want out, true. However, in the last general election, the Scottish Nationalist got 25% of the vote. The FPTP system gave them a significant number of seats. That does NOT translate into a landslide event for leaving the Union. There needs to be another referendum for that. There is no economic argument for Scotland to leave the Union. If they did, companies would leave Scotland in droves. Those companies that remained would have to cross two borders to get their goods to the European markets - the border with England and the UK/Euro border at the ports. That is just not going to happen.
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  45.  @AntonArmsberg  So, a sovereign nation with the 5th largest economy in the world, the largest financial services centre on the planet, with a world renowned arts culture, the cultivated and uses the language of business, English, that has four of the top eight universities in the world, a key member and guarantor of peace through being a fonder member of NATO and also power-house in international commercial law cannot get its act together to formulate a decent trade deal? Really? Anton, What are you smoking?
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  46.  @AntonArmsberg  So, you are suggesting the EU should be prepared to impoverish companies right across the EU by denying them access to the UK, the most lucrative European market - with a trade deficit running at around Euro 80 billion a year in favour of the EU? You really think that those companies will just give up the UK market to support the political whims of their EU 'masters'? No,they'll offshore first - most likely open operations in the UK before they'd walk away - and the EU couldn't stop them. This is BIG business you're talking about. Don't be silly.
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  47.  ML8593wy  I think you'll find we decided NOT to be part of that Institution any longer. I suggest you check up on the last UK election results and see how the Remain party's got on.
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  48.  @philhaji-michael8471  Phil, no you don't follow EU rules. Japan , Canada, Australia, Singapore, etc, none of these nations bowed down and just took EU rules. They NEGOTIATED their deal - the same as the UK will do. At least make an effort to check this out before you respond.
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  49. Tell that to the CCP.
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  50.  @AntonArmsberg  You can't reason with the Left - the have their reality distortion field - hence their current political difficulties and the rise of populism.
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  51. What reputation?
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  52.  @sausage5876  And better. No re-fueling for 35 + years for Astute/Virginia class boats. French nuclear Barracuda, needs refueling every seven years - and it can only be done by the french and only in France as the Aussies don't have any civil nuclear facilities.
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  53.  @tonycook7679  I DO make part of a diversified income from International traded goods - something I started on a kitchen table thirty years ago. So, guess what, I'll take not lectures from you nor be not bowing down in front of your 'superior' intellect. Stay quiet boy - your'e outmatched in experience.
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  54. I think not!
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  55.  @oldcremehelian3708  Yes, I'm sure more diplomacy rather than standing up to China is what the CCP would like to see. In the old days that kind of 'diplomacy' was called appeasement. It didn't work too well back then.
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  56.  @KamenKunchev  Fishing is NOT a production line, if there is no demand for certain species, fishermen/women will do what they have always done - fish for other, in demand fish - it's not rocket science.
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  57. The contract was not 'broken'. There was built in 'gate' clauses at several points when either party could step away. Australia reached suck a point and pulled out. Nothing to see here, move on.
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  58.  @kevinbuckley8458  Kevin, we never 'joined' the EU - it was a successor entity to the EEC - which, itself was a functioning trade block, not a supra-national elitist political, anti-democratic bureaucratic entity which best describes the present incarnation. In other words the EU, a failing social experiment.
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  59.  @kevinbuckley8458  Kevin, As I said we never actually were asked if we wanted to join the EU as a successor institution to the EEC - so no need to ask permission to leave - we just pack our bags and leave. I love Europeans and Europe, just can't stand the institution that is the EU.
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  60.  @AB-fi5jt  France has Barracuda nuclear subs, which while being quite good, they do need their nuclear core to be removed and replaced about every seven years, which could only be done in France as Australia does not have any civil nuclear engineering capability. The US/UK nuclear powered boats don't need this as their cores remain intact for the lifetime of the boat, around 35-40 years. So, these boats are more suitable for Australia's strategic needs - and at a price-point that is less than half the ticket price for the diesel-electric boats as offered by France. Cancellation was a 'no-brainer' for the Aussies.
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  61.  @louisemann3306  It was a contract that Australia could and did decide to cancel. There was no back stabbing but plenty of contract 'creep' by the French.
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  62. Laggard status on carbon emissions. What about Poland and their emissions? Are they not in the EU?
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  63.  @mufflejoy  You really think the EU are going to walk away from the most lucrative market in Europe, where they have an average of Euro 80 Billion a year in their favour. Even if they did, do you think those companies trading with the UK would just say OK, we'll leave too to please our EU 'Masters' ? Don't be daft, man!
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  64.  @mufflejoy  Ah yes, and it should NOT be the EU's sole decision to remove its member nations companies from access to the lucrative market UK market where they have around Euro 80 Billion a year trade surplus. That would be extremely stupid, wouldn't it? But hey, they have form in stupidity, don't they?
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  65.  @mufflejoy  Get over yourself. Population does not equate to trading power. It that was so, Russia would be a more powerful trading nation than the UK and France combined. Utter tosh.
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  66.  @mufflejoy  Well, we all know that the Chinese play by their OWN RULES when it suits them, don't they?
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  67. The bullying has been coming from the EU - have you been asleep?
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  68.  @texjohnson9208  Left leaning are we?
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  69.  @texjohnson9208  Tex, So, a sovereign nation with the 5th largest economy in the world, the largest financial services centre on the planet - thats the envy of the EU and even, our friends in the US, with a world renowned arts and creative culture, that has cultivated the language of business, English, with four of the top eight universities in the world, is a key member and guarantor of peace through being a founder member of NATO, AND, to top it all, is also is a power-house in international commercial law. That nation cannot get its act together to formulate and deliver decent trade deal? Really? Yes, Tex, we'll find out all right.
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  70.  @texjohnson9208  Tex, you are showing a lack of understanding of the most basic driver of trade and commerce - PROFIT. Profit is Profit - whatever your trading block affiliations. If the EU cannot/will not allow its individual member states to trade with us on fair terms (through self-exclusion of its own member states), then certainly, other nations outside the EU block members certainly will. This is known as 'demand pull in a vacuum'. A likely scenario in that situation is that a significant percentage of this vacuum trade would originate from individual companies within EU member states - they only need to set up off-shore or UK operations and - bang - an own goal by the EU - and not for the first time. The EU should not try to nullify own member states' trade with the UK on fair terms - or THEY, and NOT the EU will pay the price. That basic truth was, is, and will remain, that the driver of its own member states and by extension, our prosperity is to continue to have access to each others markets.
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  71.  @texjohnson9208  . Tex, It is irrelevant if the EU is or is not the 'most powerful' trading block in the World - it is the largest for sure - but that means nothing - size does not mean you are competitive - if that was the case Russia would be an economic powerhouse. Switzerland is located in the heart of Europe, has tiny in population and NOT a member of the EU. However, it has consistently out-performed the EU 27 in terms of global market share per head of population. The EU's share of global trade has gone down each year for the past decade - do the research. EU member states are certainly NOT united on how to deal with a post Brexit UK - try reading non left-wing media sometimes. Hence, there is no need for the UK to 'divide and rule' - although, the EU have been caught red-handed trying the divide and rule trick within the UK through their financial support of Remain campaigns. The UK HAS been negotiating with other nations and large companies (including ALL the major German car makers), both inside the EU and further afield. The UK does NOT need the EU's permission to do that - we have left remember? Tex, you really need to do at least some alternative research to get a broader and more balanced perspective on this subject.
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  72.  @texjohnson9208  Tex, and you have that information on who's authority? You nor I are involved in ANY negotiations, but it makes sense that these things are being put in place.
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  73.  @hgohlke  You think the average European consumer cares where the fish was caught or where it was landed. They'll eat UK fish just the same. It will be hard on the Euro fishermen, but hey, they'll get over job the losses - our fishermen had to.
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  74. Er, you do know that the US contributes over half of the funding and 60% of the expeditionary force capability of NATO? Probably not. OK, so how exactly do you think the EU will fund all that when they can't even meet their current financial obligations to NATO?
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  75. When the hole opened up, they looked inside ,and found ..... NOTHING!
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  76. I would imagine it won't be the last either.
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  77. The problem was french arrogance and the dismissive way they dealt with the Aussies. They got found out.
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  78.  @oldcremehelian3708  No, but there is nothing wrong with remembering those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we still enjoy today.
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  79. This is just the arrogant stance of an organisation that is really out of touch with the changed positions vis-a-vis EU-UK relations. In fact, the EU is a bit of a reality show and likes to believe its own sound-bites/PR media. Don't ever let the light of reality in to your EU super-state fantasy world, Mr Barnier.
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  80.  @shodank9590  The ANZACs were all volunteers - know your history before making dumb comments.
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  81.  @orangeslayer4983  what did you do to deserve Macron?
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  82.  @KamenKunchev  Yes, lets thank the EU for doing that ;-)
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  83. Noah, If you can't stand the UK being outside of the EU, then just move to Europe - if they'll have you.
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  84.  @KamenKunchev  Facts, hey? Fact - the UK NEVER voted to join the EU - the UK population were never given a referendum on. Fact - the Royal Family has NOTHING to do with any referendum on the UK leaving the EU. Fact - We did not get Free Trade Agreement - we just a 'lock-in' legislation to the EU market. Fact - we HAVE made up our minds - we're leaving - so get over yourself.
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  85.  trident3b  It means WTO, silly.
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  86.  @gurnish9741  How are the going to do that in reality? France has no sovereign expeditionary force capability outside of getting assistance from key NATO partners!
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