Happy Brexit Day, Limeys!

Ricter · Feb 16, 2023

Tsing Tao said:
Imagine being able to tie Brexit to DeSantis and not being seen as having a narrative to push.
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Different narratives, "Brexit will be great!", and "books are bad", but the lying is the same.

gwb-trading · Mar 28, 2023

Ricter said:

It is hard to admit being wrong. But Brexit voters are doing so in droves
William Keegan

Having been grossly misled in the referendum, Britons’ anger is mounting as the reality of our plight becomes clear

The Brexit bus: former Tory donor Guy Hands has held it up as an example of the ‘total lies’ told by the leave campaign. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP

Commentators, politicians and economists tend to think they are quoting John Maynard Keynes with: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

I have always been suspicious of the derivation of this putative remark. Even in this modern world of fake news, facts do not change. New information may come to light, but facts are facts. I don’t think there is any evidence that Keynes ever perpetrated such a canard, and nor does Keynes’s distinguished biographer, Robert Skidelsky.

It seems to be a bastard version of a remark that is attributed to Keynes. When once asked why he had changed his mind on something, he apparently replied: “What else do you do when you find you are wrong?”

I quote this in the context of recent developments in regard to Brexit. The majority of respondents to recent surveys now believe the nation was wrong to vote for Brexit, and a tidy majority would like to rejoin the European Union. Admitting one is wrong is not a natural inclination; but in the case of Brexit many leavers have the reasonable excuse that they were woefully misled by a gang of lying charlatans.

A powerful condemnation of this bunch was made recently by the well-known City of London figure Guy Hands – a former Tory donor – when he told the BBC Today Programme that Brexit was “a complete disaster” and “a bunch of total lies … the biggest issue about it, and you can take the Brexit bus as a good example, is the lies that Boris Johnson and the Conservative party told about the NHS. In fact, what they did was throw the country and the NHS under the bus.”

The monstrosity of the Brexit inflicted on the British people merits a public inquiry – even an old-fashioned royal commission. There are even calls for a “class action” in the courts for the way that an entire younger generation has been deprived – thus far – of rights it had good reason to expect.

Indeed, one of the reasons public opinion has woken up and moved fast in the direction of regret for leaving and support for re-entry is that people may not pay much attention to the macroeconomic damage that obsesses commentators such as myself, but they do notice when the loss of freedom of movement inhibits them, not just the European workers on whom the economy had relied for so long.

One of the many mistakes made by David Cameron over Brexit – the biggest being calling a referendum at all – was in refusing help from European Commission officials. They could have told the British electorate what was in store for them.

It is moderately good news that our beleaguered prime minister is trying to slow down, and possibly halt, the pace of ‘disalignment’
Now, I found it interesting at last weekend’s annual Venice seminar, where Italian and British journalists discuss economic and geopolitical issues with Italian ministers, officials and industrialists, that the mood had changed. For years, the British were rather condescending about the problems of the Italian economy. Today there is an air of sadness about the way the UK has inflicted upon itself the role of sick man of Europe.

Now, while I was in Venice my old friend Ken Clarke, the former Tory chancellor, was apparently to be heard on the BBC saying that one essential requirement for dealing with this country’s accumulation of economic problems was to rejoin the single market. Good for Ken. After all, in his memoirs he described Margaret Thatcher’s championship of the single market as her greatest achievement. Ironic, wasn’t it, that those soi disant Brexit numbskulls who sold the country down the river maintained that they were doing this in the spirit of, er, Thatcher.

The biggest factor accounting for the inflation, trade and growth differential between the UK and comparable economies – which have all, of course, been hit by Covid, gas prices and higher interest rates – is Brexit. As former Labour leader Lord Kinnock says, in a neat variation on an old cliche: “Brexit is the mammoth in the broom cupboard.”

It is moderately good news that Keir Starmer and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, wish to “align” us with the EU. Also that our beleaguered prime minister Rishi Sunak is trying, at least, to slow down, and possibly halt, the pace of “disalignment” – with negligible support, alas, from his warring factions in the Conservative party.

But this is simply not enough. As the European parliament’s former Brexit coordinator, the Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, recently said: “The devil is not in the detail – the very idea of Brexit is unworkable. As long as Starmer continues to rule out rejoining the single market and the European Union, Britain will be poorer, as is the EU.”
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Tsing Tao · Mar 28, 2023

Ricter said:
Different narratives, "Brexit will be great!", and "books are bad", but the lying is the same.
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First, I've yet to see a DeSantis quote saying "books are bad". Second, if it is lies you are concerned about, we could go all day on both sides of the aisle.

Ricter · Mar 28, 2023

gwb-trading said:

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Lol

Ricter · Mar 28, 2023

Tsing Tao said:
First, I've yet to see a DeSantis quote saying "books are bad".
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DeSantis delegates that to his new school board appointees.

https://pen.org/florida-book-bans-not-a-hoax/

Mercor · Mar 28, 2023

Ricter said:

It is hard to admit being wrong. But Brexit voters are doing so in droves
William Keegan

Having been grossly misled in the referendum, Britons’ anger is mounting as the reality of our plight becomes clear

The Brexit bus: former Tory donor Guy Hands has held it up as an example of the ‘total lies’ told by the leave campaign. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP

Commentators, politicians and economists tend to think they are quoting John Maynard Keynes with: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

I have always been suspicious of the derivation of this putative remark. Even in this modern world of fake news, facts do not change. New information may come to light, but facts are facts. I don’t think there is any evidence that Keynes ever perpetrated such a canard, and nor does Keynes’s distinguished biographer, Robert Skidelsky.

It seems to be a bastard version of a remark that is attributed to Keynes. When once asked why he had changed his mind on something, he apparently replied: “What else do you do when you find you are wrong?”

I quote this in the context of recent developments in regard to Brexit. The majority of respondents to recent surveys now believe the nation was wrong to vote for Brexit, and a tidy majority would like to rejoin the European Union. Admitting one is wrong is not a natural inclination; but in the case of Brexit many leavers have the reasonable excuse that they were woefully misled by a gang of lying charlatans.

A powerful condemnation of this bunch was made recently by the well-known City of London figure Guy Hands – a former Tory donor – when he told the BBC Today Programme that Brexit was “a complete disaster” and “a bunch of total lies … the biggest issue about it, and you can take the Brexit bus as a good example, is the lies that Boris Johnson and the Conservative party told about the NHS. In fact, what they did was throw the country and the NHS under the bus.”

The monstrosity of the Brexit inflicted on the British people merits a public inquiry – even an old-fashioned royal commission. There are even calls for a “class action” in the courts for the way that an entire younger generation has been deprived – thus far – of rights it had good reason to expect.

Indeed, one of the reasons public opinion has woken up and moved fast in the direction of regret for leaving and support for re-entry is that people may not pay much attention to the macroeconomic damage that obsesses commentators such as myself, but they do notice when the loss of freedom of movement inhibits them, not just the European workers on whom the economy had relied for so long.

One of the many mistakes made by David Cameron over Brexit – the biggest being calling a referendum at all – was in refusing help from European Commission officials. They could have told the British electorate what was in store for them.

It is moderately good news that our beleaguered prime minister is trying to slow down, and possibly halt, the pace of ‘disalignment’
Now, I found it interesting at last weekend’s annual Venice seminar, where Italian and British journalists discuss economic and geopolitical issues with Italian ministers, officials and industrialists, that the mood had changed. For years, the British were rather condescending about the problems of the Italian economy. Today there is an air of sadness about the way the UK has inflicted upon itself the role of sick man of Europe.

Now, while I was in Venice my old friend Ken Clarke, the former Tory chancellor, was apparently to be heard on the BBC saying that one essential requirement for dealing with this country’s accumulation of economic problems was to rejoin the single market. Good for Ken. After all, in his memoirs he described Margaret Thatcher’s championship of the single market as her greatest achievement. Ironic, wasn’t it, that those soi disant Brexit numbskulls who sold the country down the river maintained that they were doing this in the spirit of, er, Thatcher.

The biggest factor accounting for the inflation, trade and growth differential between the UK and comparable economies – which have all, of course, been hit by Covid, gas prices and higher interest rates – is Brexit. As former Labour leader Lord Kinnock says, in a neat variation on an old cliche: “Brexit is the mammoth in the broom cupboard.”

It is moderately good news that Keir Starmer and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, wish to “align” us with the EU. Also that our beleaguered prime minister Rishi Sunak is trying, at least, to slow down, and possibly halt, the pace of “disalignment” – with negligible support, alas, from his warring factions in the Conservative party.

But this is simply not enough. As the European parliament’s former Brexit coordinator, the Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, recently said: “The devil is not in the detail – the very idea of Brexit is unworkable. As long as Starmer continues to rule out rejoining the single market and the European Union, Britain will be poorer, as is the EU.”
More...

Allow Northern Ireland to join Ireland as one independent state than Brexit will work

Cuddles · Mar 28, 2023

Ricter said:
DeSantis delegates that to his new school board appointees.

https://pen.org/florida-book-bans-not-a-hoax/
More...

on the road to Kansas.

Cuddles said:
Shocker I know:

At a bill signing ceremony at a private boys high school in Miami, DeSantis described the legislation as “the largest expansion of education choice not only in the history of this state but in the history of these United States.”

DeSantis, flanked by private school students, added, “That is a big deal.”

GOP leaders and parents who currently use the scholarships celebrated the signing of HB 1, but the legislation also faces fierce criticism from those who say its price tag — estimates range from $210 million to $4 billion in the first year — will devastate public schools, which educate about 87% of Florida’s students.

Critics also argue an expansion will mean more public money spent on private, mostly religious, schools that operate without state oversight. Some of the schools hire teachers without college degrees and deny admission to certain children — most often those who don’t speak English fluently, have disabilities or are gay.

Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, said the state will “hand over that public money to unaccountable” private schools that may not provide a good education to students while also helping wealthy Floridians with private school bills they could already afford.

“Average Floridians will be helping pay for millionaires and billionaires to send their kids to elite private schools that hand-select their students,” Spar said in an emailed statement. “Once again, we see Gov. DeSantis putting his political ambitions ahead of Floridians, including our students.”

The Florida Policy Institute, a think tank that opposes the voucher expansion, estimated it would cost $4 billion in its first year and pose a “looming risk” to public school budgets. The House and Senate estimated far less, with the Senate suggesting more than $217 million next year.

“At a time when our K-12 schools are already severely underfunded, the governor approved a program that will reroute billions in education funding from public education to unaccountable private schools,” said Sadaf Knight, the group’s CEO, in an emailed statement. “By opening up the floodgates of funding to private education, including by giving vouchers to the wealthiest families in the state, HB 1 presents a significant long-term risk to the funding for our public schools.”

Through its voucher programs, Florida currently provides scholarships to more than 252,000 children with disabilities or from low-income families.Legislative leaders expect more than 80,000 additional students will take part next year.

Under the new law, the income guidelines are wiped out, though preference will be given to those from low- and middle-income backgrounds. The result of the universal voucher law is that all of the 2.9 million public school-age children in Florida could opt for an “education savings account,” if they left public schools, and those already homeschooled or in private school could seek the money, too.

“It expands school choice to every single student in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. “This bill is a major game changer.”

Three other GOP-controlled states — Arkansas, Iowa and Utah — enacted similar legislation this year, too, and others are considering it.

DeSantis signed the bill at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, a Catholic school with annual tuition of $15,400. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, a former state lawmaker from Miami-Dade County who was at the bill signing, said his son graduated from the school in 2016.

About 25% of the private school’s 1,740 students now receive state scholarships, according to Step Up For Students, the private agency that administers most of the state scholarships. The school, which has received at least $1.9 million in state scholarship funds so far this school year, requires families to apply for state help before seeking financial aid through the school, according to its website.

Under the new law, all of the school’s students could seek state money, even those from families currently able to afford tuition on their own.

The scholarships for low-income students are now worth an average of $7,700 while most of those for students with disabilities are worth about $10,000. Some students with severe disabilities can get scholarships of more than $25,000.

The new legislation turns the state’s biggest scholarship programs — the Tax Credit Scholarship Program and the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program — into so-called education savings accounts. It also increases a cap on the number of scholarships available for students with disabilities.

The Legislature, still working on the budget for the coming year, has not set scholarship amounts for the coming year.

Parent Aimee Uriarte, a single mother and immigrant from Costa Rica, said state scholarships have been “a true lifesaver for my sons,” enabling both to attend Christopher Columbus.

“Education choice scholarships have been a huge blessing to my family,” she added.
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UsualName · Mar 28, 2023

Mercor said:
Allow Northern Ireland to join Ireland as one independent state than Brexit will work
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I don’t know if Brexit will “work” or not but definitely England out of Ireland!

Ricter · Mar 28, 2023

Mercor said:
Allow Northern Ireland to join Ireland as one independent state than Brexit will work
More...

That would end the new import/export costs and delays in England? That would allow foreign labor to restaff ambulances, fire departments, hospitals, lorry drivers, etc. in England?

Cuddles · Mar 28, 2023

gwb-trading said:

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Nobody wants to be roped to a sinking ship. Oh wait:

gwb-trading said:
The U.K will endure some short term pain due to this vote. However it is better for the country in the long run.
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gwb-trading said:
You better take a better look at the demographics of the vote. The cities generally voted to Leave, the more rural areas voted to Remain.

England and Wales had a majority voting to Leave. While a majority in Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to Remain.

The cities and England are most impacted by immigration; an overwhelming majority in both voted to Leave.

http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results
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