Some people who voted to leave the E.U. said that they did so not for economic reasons but for ideological ones. Neither reason makes much sense to me.
When we leave Europe we will not be pushed around by a bunch of old German men anymore. We will be pushed around by a bunch of old American men. If anyone thinks we can hang onto the last vestiges of our national identity by isolating ourselves from Europe, then I think they are in for a rather nasty shock. If they think that we have been too culturally dependent on the U.S. since 1945, just wait until 2020.
We have only just finished paying off the bill for U.S. involvement in WW2. I think that Obama took the last payment. Under Trump, our 'Special Relationship' has officially ended. Johnson has been forming a new one from a position of extreme weakness.
Thanks to foreign investment, Germany has been doing very well since about 1948. If you have highly efficient industries with highly skilled and motivated workers, it can be - in the long term - very good for the economy to lose a war.
There is nothing of any value left in Syria worth investing in as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Unless you can render them down and run cars off them, the people are worth less than nothing.
We have Downton Abbey, The Queen and Harry Potter.
During this past week I have started to feel some of the effects of Brexit.
ReplyDeleteThe Romanian men who have been making an excellent job of cleaning the inside and outside of my car have closed up shop and vanished.
I can't get an appointment with my Optician, Muhammad, as he too has vanished, and there appears to be no one to replace him.
I expected a van collection from the local charity, Emmaus to collect some bar stools from me, and no one turned up because they too have gone back to their own country.
I haven't noticed an exodus here as yet. In fact, two young Albanian men have just set up a barber shop recently and are looking quite perky. A lot of Poles left about a year or two ago because the economy was improving in their country. I hope they stay, because all the ones I know are very helpful and polite, as well as being good at the jobs that our young people do not seem to be interested in.
DeleteMany come intentionally for short periods for funding projects at home, like building or restoring a property, and work for a period until the project is finished, sending the money home each month. I met a Polish care worker here who was funding a house build outside Warsaw and intending leaving as soon as the house was finished. They sleep 4 to a room in lodgings here, sometimes 8, four on day shift, 4 on night shift.
DeleteGood for them. We need that sort of work ethic.
DeleteYes, I think it good and to understand it
DeleteDo you think you understand it?
DeleteI talk to them almost every day. They show me photographs on their phones. Yes. I drew a map of the country for the Moldovan girl on the plane who was working in Corby. She showed me places she had been on her phone and wanted to know other places. Yes. The Moldovan girl said she had worked in Italy too but England was best because she learned English in school. Her brother is in Germany working but cannot speak German. They both plan to return to Moldova when they have saved enough money. I have many who share stories like this with me on the train. I talk to them and they enjoy sharing.
DeleteI suppose that English is the most commonly used and taught language in Europe.
DeleteIt's going to go on and on and on and on and on for years and years. Fed up with it all now? This is only the beginning.
ReplyDeleteYou might be surprised.
DeleteWhat will we have first, your leaving, or our president's. It doesn't matter. Too many children have smashed the crockery and gone home.
ReplyDeleteWe will probably leave before your president is forced to. That is a big problem for us. I long for the days of Obama already.
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