Europe - Brexit or Bremain?

Well, the UK Prime Minister has announced the upcoming referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU, or not.  And now will follow four months of various "leaders" showing up in the media, explaining to us why it is imperative that we remain in / leave (delete as applicable) the EU.

The trouble is, no one knows.  Everyone will have their opinion, and may well be very forthright in their opinion.  But no one knows what will happen for sure.  I've listened to various people on both sides of the argument, and I think they both have valid points of view.

Here's some of my thoughts, for the sake of fleshing out a blog post:

• There is a risk that if the UK remains within the EU, and the Euro currency collapses, that the UK will be forced to help bail out other countries.
• There is a risk that if the UK leaves the EU and subsequently need financial assistance from other countries that the UK won't get help.
• The UK contributes more money to the EU than it receives from the EU.
• The EU is a heavily bureaucratic organisation that by definition can't have the best interests of any single member state in mind, because they have to do what is best for the whole.
• There is strength in numbers - globally, economic power seems to be transferring to Asia, and beyond that Africa appears to be rising also.  A group such as the EU should have more ability to protect itself economically than an individual country.
• If the UK leaves the EU, we risk triggering a second referendum in Scotland to ask if they want to remain within the UK (and subsequently bringing the UK itself to an end)
• The view of the UK is often different to other member states, for example the UK doesn't seem to believe in closer union, and typically views immigration as a problem, whilst others can view immigration as an opportunity to gain new skills.
• The EU can and does impose laws that the UK is required to put into force, regardless of whether we agree or not.
• The EU looks to apply a commonality of law across the member states, so that it is easier to operate across countries.
• If the UK left the EU it would still need to comply with EU requirements in order to trade with the EU - without any ability to influence those requirements.
• If the UK left the EU it could jeopardise other agreements that the UK has with other EU states, for example the agreement for UK border guards to operate in Calais.
• If the UK left the EU it could free up the UK to work on independent trade deals with other countries, such as China.
• If the UK attempted to form trade deals with other countries, the UK may not obtain as attractive arrangements on the grounds that it is an individual country trading and not a group such as the EU.
• The requirement to advertise contracts Europe-wide makes it impossible to reserve public contracts for UK businesses.
• The requirement to advertise contracts Europe-wide lets the UK see opportunities in other countries.

So, for me it's not clear whether to stay or to leave is best, and I very much doubt that I'm on my own.

Let me know your views in the comments!

Kneeling for the Privy Council is news, apparently

So today, whilst catching a bit of an update on what is happening around the world on the news websites, I spotted this headline.

"Jeremy Corbyn: will he or won't he kneel for Queen?"

Foolishly clicking on the link I became aware that this, apparently, required such a lengthy discussion that it was 13 pages long (however long a "page" is when we're talking about an electronic document and not a piece of paper).

In a large nutshell, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Opposition to Her Majestys' Government, was sworn in to the Queens Privy Council today, and as part of the normal ceremony includes kneeling before the Queen.  Mr Corbyn is a republican and as a result I assume doesn't really feel like kneeling before royalty.  But it's important for him to become a member of the Privy Council because it means that he gets things like security briefings which I imagine he ought to get.

Spoiler - he didn't kneel, but it obviously can't have mattered much in the end because he still became a member of the Privy Council without being beheaded or killed or anything.

I don't talk about politics and so I'm not going to give my opinion on whether he should or shouldn't kneel - I don't really think it's up to me, it's a matter really for Mr Corbyn.

I just think that news coverage of Kneelgate is a little over the top really - does it matter that much if he kneels or not?  He obviously hasn't blown up the Privy Council or attempted to assassinate the Queen yet.

Instead, here's a picture of a green pint of beer.

It hasn't even got a good head on it.  Now THAT is something to get angry over.

Cheers!