Detournement Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) I would still argue that attempting to invade Egypt because they nationalised a canal is worse than Brexit. 3000 Egyptians (ie a 9/11) were killed which is a fair bit worse than potentially losing a couple of points off Mystic Mark's shonky GDP forecasts. Edited March 20, 2019 by Detournement 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Some MPs are trying to force a request for a longer extension of A50 using something called an SO24 debate, but people are saying Labour wouldn't support it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topcat(The most tip top) Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 1 hour ago, HTG said: Firewalled Financial services companies have committed to move about £1tn of assets out of the UK into Europe as the industry triggers its worst-case contingency plans with no Brexit deal in sight, according to consultancy EY. The estimate by EY — which mainly covers client assets and cash moved out of the UK by banks and fund managers as well as the transfer of balance sheets as operations are relocated — has increased by £200bn since the last survey in January. Banks and investors are now being forced to finalise plans only days from the Brexit deadline, with London’s future trading relationship with the EU still in question after Theresa May failed for a second time to secure parliamentary approval for her deal last week. She now faces having to ask Brussels for an extension to Brexit, causing added uncertainty for businesses in the UK. The number of jobs likely to move to the continent has remained steady at about 7,000, according to the EY study, which tracks the public declarations of 222 UK-based financial services firms on their intentions to restructure. About 2,000 new Europe-based roles have already been created since the June 2016 referendum, the consultancy said. “The relocation of 7,000 high-paid finance jobs will inevitably hit the UK tax base,” said Omar Ali, EY’s head of financial services. “Even using a conservative estimate . . . the direct loss to the Exchequer from employment taxes would be around £600m. In reality, the average salary and therefore tax loss is likely to be much higher.” At this stage, only the biggest institutions have made concrete commitments. Three-quarters of the 24 global banks tracked have announced significant relocations of operations to Europe, with Frankfurt the most popular destination with 12 lenders bulking up in the German financial capital. Paris and Dublin are the next most popular with eight and six banks, respectively, EY said. However the majority of big banks’ operations remain in London at this point. On Tuesday, US giant Citigroup said its new broker-dealer in Frankfurt was now fully operational and trading for EU clients instead of London, while Bank of America warned there was no going back on the $400m it had already spent leasing offices and moving people to Paris and Dublin. Similarly, Barclays was given approval by a UK court to move €190bn of assets to its Irish subsidiary because of what a judge called “continuing uncertainty over . . . a ‘no-deal’ Brexit”. When the entire range of financial firms is considered, the picture is less clear. As of the end of February, only 39 per cent of the 222 surveyed companies had stated their intentions to relocate some operations to Europe, the new survey showed. The £1tn figure was reached using the statements of the 23 companies, mainly banks, that have already formally announced a shift of assets out of the UK, which means that the “conservative” figure is likely to continue increasing, according to EY. “As the 29th of March draws nearer, no financial services businesses can know for sure how a disorderly Brexit will impact them, their clients, people and supply chains or the UK economy,” Mr Ali said. “Continued uncertainty will undoubtedly lead to more assets and people being transferred from the UK.” On Tuesday, Andrea Enria, chair of the ECB’s bank supervisory agency, told the FT that he expected about €1.2tn of assets to be moved to fall under its remit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Detournement said: I would still argue that attempting to invade Egypt because they nationalised a canal is worse than Brexit. 3000 Egyptians (ie a 9/11) were killed which is a fair bit worse than potentially losing a couple of points off Mystic Mark's shonky GDP forecasts. I think your missing the point. It's not that an armed invasion of another country isn't worse than tumbling out of the EU. The point of the comparison rests on the fact that the UK believed it could unilaterally - by which I mean, without a Superpower's blessing - engage in the activity in the first place. Eden's mismanagement of the diplomacy, particularly with regards to the Americans was catastrophic, and Britain being brought to heel by their one time wartime allies by threatening to dump Sterling reserves marked a wake up call for Britain's reduced presence in the world. A conservative Prime Minister, trying to ape their more illustrious predecessor (Churchill for Eden, Thatcher for May), engaging in jingoistic nonsense, divorced from reality. Brexit, particularly the way and means of it now, will be far more humbling experience than even Suez, where successive governments were able to rebuild Britain - at least in reputation if not in fact - as some kind of special force in the world, a conduit to Europe for the US, a proponent of soft power - "Punching above our weight". By comparison, Brexit has exposed that abstraction of lies and laid bare Britain's true place as just another unexceptional European nation, and not a particularly sane, well led or even basically likeable one either. Edited March 20, 2019 by renton 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 The UK was an American vassal as soon as the the US military set up camp here regardless of whether or not the ruling classes were concious of it. We have been an unexceptional European nation for a long time. It's not news. I don't see how the BoE forecasts for various outcomes amount to a humbling? Brexit changes nothing structurally, we are being strangled by austerity regardless and GDP increases have no impact on the standards of living of the majority of the population. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harry94 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 10 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Some MPs are trying to force a request for a longer extension of A50 using something called an SO24 debate, but people are saying Labour wouldn't support it. We might well look back on the amendment to the article 50 extension vote that was raised by Hilary Benn that would have taken the control of the house away from the government and given it to parliament. Defeated 314-312 but if passed, parliament could have had preferential votes etc and maybe even ordered the government to do things - Corbyn or another figurehead could have theoretically flown to Brussels and had legitimacy to negotiate a EFTA/EEA type thing with his workers right clause as they could demonstrate firm support in parliament. It might be that if something obscure isn't found from the rule book, the implications of that vote are that May could actually bring this to the 28th and be hours away from making good on her 'no deal' threat. It may be cowardly but I'd be shitting myself if I was an MP at that point, there could be no cards left to play apart from hoping that the government are bluffing and plan to revoke A50 at what would literally be the last few minutes. Even if that was thought, I'd be pretty nervous about the governments competence to do something like that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colkitto Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 10 minutes ago, Detournement said: The UK was an American vassal as soon as the the US military set up camp here regardless of whether or not the ruling classes were concious of it. We have been an unexceptional European nation for a long time. It's not news. I don't see how the BoE forecasts for various outcomes amount to a humbling? Brexit changes nothing structurally, we are being strangled by austerity regardless and GDP increases have no impact on the standards of living of the majority of the population. That actually might be news to Brexiteers... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Steele Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, Detournement said: The UK was an American vassal as soon as the the US military set up camp here regardless of whether or not the ruling classes were concious of it. We have been an unexceptional European nation for a long time. It's not news. I don't see how the BoE forecasts for various outcomes amount to a humbling? Brexit changes nothing structurally, we are being strangled by austerity regardless and GDP increases have no impact on the standards of living of the majority of the population. Surely a belief that the UK is exceptional is what got us into this mess to start with? Nearly every pronouncement by Brexiteers and arguably many in the Remain camp had/has an exceptionalist subtext. 'Easiest trade deal ever', anyone? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Steele Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Snap, colkitto! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, Colkitto said: That actually might be news to Brexiteers... It is. I heard a woman in my office the other day say how "romantic" it is that the UK is "pulling up it's drawbridge and going it alone" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 May's been a very naughty girl. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1108318724061306881 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'm Brian Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Aye but we won Two World Wars. That makes us immortal like 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 7 minutes ago, Detournement said: The UK was an American vassal as soon as the the US military set up camp here regardless of whether or not the ruling classes were concious of it. We have been an unexceptional European nation for a long time. It's not news. I don't see how the BoE forecasts for various outcomes amount to a humbling? Brexit changes nothing structurally, we are being strangled by austerity regardless and GDP increases have no impact on the standards of living of the majority of the population. It's probably news to a lot of the population of England at least, not to mention the 'ruling classes'. That we are humbled by this process may be reflected in the present condition of our politics: 2.5 years of being unable to bring forward any agreed strategy for an exit, a governmental system utterly paralysed by indecision. Not a great look for a nation that throws it's "soft power " around on the back of it's robust and ancient democratic institutions. it's a disaster for our relations in the near to mid term with the EU and correspondingly is a drag on our relationship with the US. It makes the Westminster ruling classes look moribund and fundamentally stupid - which they are, but they'd done a reasonable job of obscuring that fact until now. It may be reflected in the future by the slow strangulation of UK financial services sector, that without some kind of radical realignment represents the fundamental motor of the British economy, at least in so far as the South East and London are concerned (it's still surprising to me that May did not make services a priority). Add also the withering of supply chains that run through the UK which will give the lie to the illusion that we maintain a robust manufacturing base, it's hollow at the core, and across a hard European border the effect of that will be felt. That Westminster has made conscious choices to enforce a fairly widely discredited fiscal doctrine that has wrought a f**k tonne of misery on people since 2010 is one thing, but No Deal Brexit would severely alter, structurally, any future government's ability to do something about it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 3 minutes ago, welshbairn said: May's been a very naughty girl. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1108318724061306881 Oaft, the men in grey suits are coming 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baxter Parp Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 £1,000,000,000,000.00 of assets leaving UK for Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin news now https://www.ft.com/content/016171be-4a74-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50dIt's because of diesel fuel and the changing car market, not Brexit, innit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topcat(The most tip top) Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 24 minutes ago, Donathan said: It is. I heard a woman in my office the other day say how "romantic" it is that the UK is "pulling up it's drawbridge and going it alone" Romeo & Juliet is romantic That doesn't have a happy ending either Sorry about the spoiler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 33 minutes ago, I'm Brian said: Aye but we won Two World Wars. That makes us immortal like We were on the winning side for two world wars. In the first, we were on the winning side but lost a quarter of our territory when the Republic of Ireland became a separate country. In the second, we were on the winning side but lost an empire. For some, losing the empire and significant influence on the world stage coincided with the rise of the EU (or more precisely its predecessors). There is this belief that if the EU disappeared, we could go back to being a major world power - especially as those continentals would spend all their time arguing and fighting each other. Unfortunately for them, the continentals think the EU is a good way to avoid arguing and fighting each other and are not willing to give it up. How unsporting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 40 minutes ago, Donathan said: It is. I heard a woman in my office the other day say how "romantic" it is that the UK is "pulling up it's drawbridge and going it alone" I thought romance had something to do with not being alone! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 39 minutes ago, Donathan said: It is. I heard a woman in my office the other day say how "romantic" it is that the UK is "pulling up it's drawbridge and going it alone" Maybe she’s confusing “romantic” with “getting fucked”. I suppose for some folk it’s the same thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 46 minutes ago, I'm Brian said: Aye but we won Two World Wars. That makes us immortal like That's my line. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.