Comments by "peabase" (@peabase) on "Britain to make EU poll question more "fair"" video.

  1. +Johnny English A fraction? Brits on the whole get 99.86% back.
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  2. ***** The UK is a net contributor to the EU budget. That is to say, it receives back 0.24% less than it puts in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union#Net_contributors_and_recipients "Your" and "you're" are not interchangeable, by the way.
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  3. ***** No, Daily Mail is spot on. But to put things into perspective, most EU net contributors have shouldered an even bigger burden in recent years: http://english.eu.dk/en/faq/faq/net_contribution Among them, the UK doesn't stand out, but there's been an upward leap, explained by a strong economy and Cameron allowing UK's infamous rebate to be cut. You should ask yourselves if the budgetary imbalance outweighs the extra-budgetary benefits of EU membership. British industry seems to think it doesn't.
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  4. ***** You didn't it get. What the British taxpayer puts in, the British industry rakes in almost tenfold. The Germans are smart enough to understand the same effect on their economy. Summa summarum, a Brexit would send the UK economy in a steep downward spiral. Don't mind my opinion -- it's practically a self-fulfilling prophecy because of what the CBI thinks of it all. Personally, as a non-Brit, I wouldn't mind if the UK spent its 40 days in the desert. I have no association with Kapp Bea, whoever that is.
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  5. ***** I'm talking net contributions. Show me the official figures.
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  6. ***** I'm flattered that you chose to co-opt my biblical reference, but in this context it implies that after a Brexit and the many trials that follow, the UK returns to the fold -- the EU -- with a much-diminished ego. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always suspected that the UK being the EU's enfant terrible stems not from being part of a bigger whole (you even mentioned one, the Commonwealth), but from not being the top dog. I very much doubt your former colonies want the British Empire back, their Anglophilia notwithstanding. As I keep saying, your biggest obstacle seems to be British industry, who don't see a bright future in non-membership. Also, one former colony of yours, the one across the pond, seems to agree wholeheartedly.
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  7. ***** Uh, save your diatribes for someone who cares. As a self-confessed Anglophile, I take an interest in the UK economy, but part of me thinks I would enjoy visiting a Dickensian open air museum.  What I still can't get my head around is how the British anti-EU faction thinks foreigners will trade with and invest in British companies when they've lost their self-confidence. What happened to the Russian economy when investors started pulling out and sanctions decimated their trade? They weren't even in the EU and they've got vast reserves of oil and money.  
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  8. ***** Russia's economic crisis shows no signs of abating. Russian officials aren't denying it -- tragicomically, they're claiming there's a "decline in the decline". China, Russia's supposed saviour, is experiencing an economic slowdown of their own, weakening demand for Russian oil and gas. The next whammy will be Iran flooding the market with their oil. By the way, Russia just started bombing brown people in Syria. It's all very simple. The EU is about trading sovereignty for benefits. You desperately want to believe that you can keep both by becoming a hang-around member like Switzerland. Well, this ought to strike fear in your xenophobic heart: recently, the Swiss tried to curb EU immigration, but like Cameron earlier, they had to give it up. You can ask Swiss diplomats how much wiggle room their full sovereignty affords them.
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  9. ***** I see you're a hard-core conspiracy nut. Just beware of schizophrenia. The Swiss get to vote on lots of things. They voted with a narrow margin for curbing EU immigration. In a separate vote, maintaining close ties with the EU garnered overwhelming support. The two results clearly contradict one another, because the EU is not sacrificing its sacred principle of free movement at the altar of Swiss racial purity. Direct democracy is a noble concept, but I pity the federal government that has to translate the will of the people into responsible policy. However, I can still see how that appeals to populists such as yourself. You prefer to be one of the dogs that barks at the moving caravan.
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  10. ***** Sorry, you haven't exactly shown yourself to be a fountain of knowledge. You mix Farage's populist messages with angry tirades that are light on substance. Your unapologetic admiration for Putin's Russia tops it off nicely. 
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