Leaving the UK?

This was a topic on another forum and I posted my tuppence worth and got no response. I just wondered if any of you think about this what with "Brexit" coming up etc.

As a sort of involuntary expat, it's interesting reading the comments above. My father was a Royal Navy officer who moved us to New Zealand (after Bermuda, New York and Singapore) when he was on loan to the RNZN. When the 3 years were up his choice was to sign on for a further time or opt out. He chose the latter. He loved the country, the beaches, the Maori and the lifestyle so we stayed and I finished my education here. I've been back 3 times over the last 60 years and always enjoyed my visit but I soon realised he was right. When we arrived in 1953 NZ was a very English oriented society but with out the 'class' differences. After retiring and working in the local museum for 10 years I realised that the vast majority of early settlers in the 1850-1900 era were in service in England. They were butlers, gardeners, cooks and cleaners. Very practical people. In times of war they volunteered to help Britain in the Boer war, the WW1 and then WW2. They were good at it and put up "the sharp end" of some bad decisions like Gallipoli. They suffered casualties heavily but always supported and referred to England as "Home". I felt really bad when Britain joined the EEC and the commonwealth lost it's preferential access to British markets. Times were hard while new markets were established and of course, reciprocal trade deals went and we no loner saw new British cars on the road. Machinery started to come from Asia and the USA. By about 1990 we were happy again and reasonably prosperous. All a bit sad to me.

The cars, machinery etc might not be manufactured in the UK these days but we all have our cars and machinery etc. We seem to have money to buy them that has been earned in ways other than actually manufacturing the items.

All in all, I'm not sure it matters where the items come from providing we have the capacity to buy them. Times change is all that can be said. World fortunes change and while we might have opinions on this and that, there's really nothing to be done but go with the flow and get on with life as best we can. Empires rise and fade but life goes on.

I certainly would not leave, could not afford it anyway.

However when the dust settles and we are sitting friendless on this little rock in the North Sea with no money to buy anything, maybe the rest of this Country might just wake up to reality.

We are not a World player any more and have not been so for many years.

Purwell wrote:

I certainly would not leave, could not afford it anyway.

However when the dust settles and we are sitting friendless on this little rock in the North Sea with no money to buy anything, maybe the rest of this Country might just wake up to reality.

We are not a World player any more and have not been so for many years.

I hope when that happens, we will try to be more self-sufficient in the items we buy. That's probably going to take years to happen though.

I heard on the News a few days ago that we won't get the variety of food on the shelves that we have at present and that's probably true. It will be a shock to just have British seasonal foods only. I can remember when that was the case, before all the free borders and fast transport systems developed. It wasn't that bad.

We can indeed get a good variety of imported fruit and veg throughout the year and it always looks marvellous. Has any one else noticed though, how it never fully ripens and hasn't got much taste. Such produce usually comes from all places in the EU. I've stopped buying it in the winter because of this. If this this the kind of variety of food being spoken of, I'm not going to miss it.

Hopefully, a few years down the line, our farmers will take advantage of the fact that importing foodstuff is more difficult and start growing a lot more than they presently do to fill the gap. A great opportunity for them to diversify into erecting more poly-tunnels on their land where produce can be grown all year round.

Our generation won't be around to see the long-term outcome of leaving the EU but I'm sure it will be painful in the short-term at least. Who knows?.. twenty years down the line and perhaps the younger generation will thank the older for getting them out. However, this is surely something that could go either way.

This is not to say I voted to leave the EU. I have friends and family who have voted to leave and those who voted to stay. I don't want divisions within that circle, so I have never said how I voted. However, what I do feel now that the decision is made, is that more optimism is needed to avoid talking the nation into failure.

I cannot see one thing to be optimistic about, I am afraid.

I'm the same about prospects in the near future but long term? Time will tell. My point is more that we shouldn't present as a nation who reckon we're on the down. What's done is done and whether it's greeted with a feeling of doom or a feeling of elation makes no difference now, so might as well present a positive attitude. Better for our image abroad probably.

That does sound sensible Mart.

EU is in a mess - UK was the largest percentage contributor financially - Merkle demonstrated her inability to run Germany well by letting it be swarmed with Muslims Eu IMO is only going to get worst and I think UK needs kicking up the backside and telling - get on with brexit and show the rest of the world you can do it and do it well

davo wrote:

EU is in a mess - UK was the largest percentage contributor financially - Merkle demonstrated her inability to run Germany well by letting it be swarmed with Muslims Eu IMO is only going to get worst and I think UK needs kicking up the backside and telling - get on with brexit and show the rest of the world you can do it and do it well

We were not the largest contributor: https://www.statista.com/statistics/316691/european-union-eu-budget-share-of-contributions/
We stand no chance on our own.

I know World fortunes and alliances change and everything moves on in the end. Many years ago though, who'd have thought it would change so much that the independence that was so hard fought for in two World Wars would end up being given away by agreement. Not saying that this has proved to be a bad thing but it is a strange old World.