In, out or shake it all about?

[Rossgo]

It's all well and good comparing our education system (which does have its flaws) to other European nations, but we don't pay the same level of taxes.

The education system needs to be reviewed, but that costs money. A lot of money. Sadly government won't fund it.

There are far too many tests and tick boxes. My daughter suffers from anxiety attacks when she's hit with a load of tests. She's had about 12 exams/tests so far this year and had 3 attacks. I fail to see why a 12 year old girl needs to be put under that sort of pressure.

That is absolute madness. I have said for years we expect too much from children and they have no idea what they really want to do with the rest of their lives at that age. Why can't we allow them to have a bit of fun while being educated why put them through this sort of pressure. What I don't like is we build them up for GCSE's (if your an academic and if your not then the school will just throw you out with very little) and then the schools say if you don't get into A levels you will become a under paid worker. It's too much pressure for an adult let alone a child who doesn't understand anything about life!!

To be honest the country need to sort it out regardless of price. Education is key

[duke63]

"What did the EU ever do for us?
Not much, apart from: providing 57% of our trade;
structural funding to areas hit by industrial decline;
clean beaches and rivers;
cleaner air;
lead free petrol;
restrictions on landfill dumping;
a recycling culture;
cheaper mobile charges;
cheaper air travel;
improved consumer protection and food labelling;
a ban on growth hormones and other harmful food additives;
better product safety;
single market competition bringing quality improvements and better industrial performance;
break up of monopolies;
Europe-wide patent and copyright protection;
no paperwork or customs for exports throughout the single market;
price transparency and removal of commission on currency exchanges across the eurozone;
freedom to travel, live and work across Europe;
funded opportunities for young people to undertake study or work placements abroad;
access to European health services;
labour protection and enhanced social welfare;
smoke-free workplaces;
equal pay legislation;
holiday entitlement;
the right not to work more than a 48-hour week without overtime;
strongest wildlife protection in the world;
improved animal welfare in food production;
EU-funded research and industrial collaboration;
EU representation in international forums;
bloc EEA negotiation at the WTO;
EU diplomatic efforts to uphold the nuclear non-proliferation treaty;
European arrest warrant;
cross border policing to combat human trafficking, arms and drug smuggling; counter terrorism intelligence;
European civil and military co-operation in post-conflict zones in Europe and Africa;
support for democracy and human rights across Europe and beyond;
investment across Europe contributing to better living standards and educational, social and cultural capital.
All of this is nothing compared with its greatest achievements: the EU has for 60 years been the foundation of peace between European neighbours after centuries of bloodshed.
It furthermore assisted the extraordinary political, social and economic transformation of 13 former dictatorships, now EU members, since 1980.
Now the union faces major challenges brought on by neoliberal economic globalisation, and worsened by its own systemic weaknesses. It is taking measures to overcome these. We in the UK should reflect on whether our net contribution of £7bn out of total government expenditure of £695bn is good value. We must play a full part in enabling the union to be a force for good in a multi-polar global future.

Simon Sweeney,

Lecturer in international political economy, University of York"

[C00kiemonster]

Not a lot then....

[Kwacky]

People need to appreciate that in any form of agreement there are benefits for all parties, some of which may be at the detriment of others. However it's the overall picture you need to look at. I accept there are some negatives of being in a union with other Countries but I believe that the positives far outweight the negatives.

I see the right wing press is back on the "hordes of immigrants at our borders" line again.

[C00kiemonster]

The Express seems to be particularly bad at the mo...

[Kwacky]

I suspect the Express are hoping that mini ice age they keep going on about will turn up and freeze those sun loving foreigners

[StMarks]

.......I see the right wing press is back on the "hordes of immigrants at our borders" line again.

Surely the immigration crisis (which is seems to be one of the fundamental levers of the Brexit pundits) will not cease if we vote for out.
The flow into Europe will not be reduced by our decision, not one bit. The underlying global problems will remain, & for those masses the UK will remain a target destination.

There is no 'miracle cure. Coming out of the EU, won't make all the changes in law and statue disappear. Laws aren't built that way. Someone will have to go to the cost and trouble to re-write them all, which will not happen overnight. Some solicitors will be quids in though.

However as we live in a democracy, it's good that we can have all these views and that we are all entitled to express our opinions & our own perspective on the situation, and then vote on them

[Kwacky]

What thee Brexit's can't understand is if our borders are so open because of Europe, why are they so many immigrants in Calais waiting to cross? Surely if the EU controls our borders they would have arrived by now?

Britain is easier to apply for asylum than France and Germany. That's not EU regulations, that's national.

[duke63]

Had quite heated discussion about this at work yesterday.

The main gripe of the Outers seems to be our inability to control our own immigration and the loss of British culture.

Now the Calais border post is, i believe, actually a British border run by British staff under British laws and is the only border post on foreign soil in the world. We fail to control that now so why would leaving the EU make any difference to that? There are thousands of illegals in the UK now which the UK immigration know about but do nothing to eject from the UK. As St Marks points out, these people will still want to come to the UK regardless of EU membership.

As to the culture side, many EU countries have kept much more of their culture and they have far closer ties to the EU. We have lost our culture to the USA under the rules brought in by UK governments. France has a day of rest on Sundays, something we have lost completely... due to US style rules.

I've yet to hear a genuine positive reason why we should leave the EU from the Outers.

[Perkles]

Bloody foreigners'

[Blade]

Some very informative information Duke. Thanks for posting as I said previously I need to educate myself on this subject before I will vote which I imagine alot of other UK citizens share.

[Perkles]

I really wish we could go back to traditional Sundays where everything was shut and the roads were empty
I hate the shops being open,its all to American and commercial for me

[C00kiemonster]

I really wish we could go back to traditional Sundays where everything was shut and the roads were empty
I hate the shops being open,its all to American and commercial for me

That's what France is for . Sunday's are dead over here, it's great.

[Perkles]

I remember as a kid going out on my pushbike all day and hardly seeing any traffic on the roads,car boot sales ruined it and started all the Sunday opening hours off.

[D41]

I really wish we could go back to traditional Sundays where everything was shut and the roads were empty
I hate the shops being open,its all to American and commercial for me

Yes and no...there's advantages to each method, and just because the stores are open does not mean you have to use them, just that the option is available.

[Blade]

I'm with You D41. It suits me and my family to have Sunday hours tbh. Although I do miss the lazy Sundays too so can see both sides.

[Perkles]

I really wish we could go back to traditional Sundays where everything was shut and the roads were empty
I hate the shops being open,its all to American and commercial for me

Yes and no...there's advantages to each method, and just because the stores are open does not mean you have to use them, just that the option is available.

yes but it means more traffic on the roads which I dont like ,it would be nice to have at least one day of total rest from all the hussle and bussle

[duke63]

Sunday opening is all about getting more for less from the population. I don't know the answer to this but are Sunday hours now considered just a regular working day and so no extra pay for staff who work on that day?

The system is running out of ways to get more for less.

Banks now get charged for keeping money on reserve at the Bank of England. So every time you pay money into the bank it costs them money.

Oil prices plummet to keep the system moving.

They are running out of ideas.

[Kwacky]

Sunday pay has pretty much gone out of the window.

[StMarks]

Fwiw I personally think that the traditional weekend is something that we would be better served moving away from.
Just because "it's always been that way" does not mean it always should, nor that it is correct.
Two days rest out of seven is pretty good IMHO. But if the days were more evenly distributed, then perhaps society may be inspired to be less lazy.?