Benefits of Brexit for Britain

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veravista
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by veravista » Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:44 pm

Oh dear god, really? That'll really help our exports, even the States don't use Imperial..And it will confuse the hell out of Veravistina, never used anything but SI.

I'd only go for it if we go balls out for proper units, rods, poles and perches for a f.cking start..

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by headshot » Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:48 pm

From that article:

"Instead of 1,000 grams representing one kilogram as under the metric system, the Imperial system says there are 14 pounds in a stone, 16 pounds in an ounce, then 256 drachms to the pound."

Umm. WHAT?

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by WFJ » Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:53 pm

I think they've had too many ⅙s of a gill.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Little waster » Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:01 pm

FlammableFlower wrote:
Wed Feb 23, 2022 4:16 pm
We can all be grateful that Rees-Mogg is looking to produce a report on the economic benefits of reintroducing Imperial measurements, which I'm sure will be just as impressive as Gove's Levelling Up report and the previous government Brexit benefits report...
I for one welcome the 40-page section on the history of the Roman Empire straight-up copy and pasted without acknowledgement from Wikipedia.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Trinucleus » Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:06 am

I wonder if he will insist his various financial companies convert back to pounds shillings and pence?

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Orabona » Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:41 pm

Trinucleus wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:06 am
I wonder if he will insist his various financial companies convert back to pounds shillings and pence?
Surely Guineas?

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Trinucleus » Thu Feb 24, 2022 2:13 pm

Orabona wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 12:41 pm
Trinucleus wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 11:06 am
I wonder if he will insist his various financial companies convert back to pounds shillings and pence?
Surely Guineas?
Actually, forget that new fangled currency. Groats it is then

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Little waster » Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:26 pm

Just like the "Crowns on pints" it does seem a microcosm of the whole pro-Brexit argument.

A convoluted attempt to conjure up some sort of spurious economic reasoning to sell a decision which was made for non-economic reasons pitched at some non-existent middle ground.

The supporters of Brexit (and Imperial Measures) don't care whether reverting to bushels and furlongs has any economic benefit, that's not why they support it. They support it because it speaks to them on some emotional level to their ideas of identity and sovereignty and rejecting The Other; some hazy memory of the Mackem greengrocer who was sent to an EUSSR death camp in the 90s because he wouldn't sell grannies bananas in litres or something. Wading through a 100-page pdf in order to identify the Weights & Measures equivalent of selling 100,000 pig's ears to the Chinese will be something they forward on Facebook or regurgitate BTL on the Mail website and then promptly forget.

Similarly the Rejoiners will give chapter and verse about why reverting to a non-intuitive Imperial System, effectively out-of-use for at least 60 years and mostly unfamiliar* to anyone of actual working age, and rejected by virtually every other significant trading partner is economic idiocy and for that matter why we didn't even need to leave the EU to do this, but it won't change anyone's mind. Meanwhile we'll just watch another 100m guinea bit of space hardware slam into Mars when some distracted engineer forgot to carry the 13 when converting from ounce-inches to parsec/fortnights.

So who is it to convince? Some mythical fence-sitter who hadn't been swayed by either blue passports on the one hand or the overnight loss of 40% of our trade to the EU on the other, but who is now going to suddenly bolt upright and scream in joy when they realise McDonalds will no longer be forced at gunpoint to sell "113gram-Burgers" by the Gaspacho Nazis and their beer cans will now be 2 fl oz smaller but cost more money.


*I get a pint and a half pint, I can visualise a pound of sugar, a foot is about yay-size, an inch is my thumb, my weight is umpty-dumpty stones but you could put a gun to my head and I couldn't give you the equivalent of a fl oz without googling it, a mile is some random number of yards, knots are apparently a thing, ounces are a mystery (is it 12? 14? 16? to the stone) , I didn't even know drams was the sub-division until yesterday, Chains, leagues, gills, hundredweights, fathoms, perchs, grains, firkins, scruples, motes, minims, slugs, roods, I've made one of those up but you would have to double-check to be certain which one.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by monkey » Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:10 pm

Little waster wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:26 pm
So who is it to convince?
Everyone sees weights and measures. Many people will see them and think "We Brexited, Boris did that, I like Boris". These people are likely people who already think Brexit was a good idea, but they might start noticing that their lives aren't changing for the better, as promised. A veneer like this suggests to them that things have changed for them. Same as with the blue passports.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Little waster » Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:55 pm

monkey wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Little waster wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:26 pm
So who is it to convince?
Everyone sees weights and measures. Many people will see them and think "We Brexited, Boris did that, I like Boris". These people are likely people who already think Brexit was a good idea, but they might start noticing that their lives aren't changing for the better, as promised. A veneer like this suggests to them that things have changed for them. Same as with the blue passports.
But that doesn't speak to the supposed economic benefits covered in Greased-Frog's report.

You don't need to go through the rigmarole of publishing a lengthy report on economics to convince the man on the Clapham Omnibus that Boris has bravely freed us to now proudly buy pints of bread from Woolworths whereas previously under the dastardly EU the only bread available was French Sticks, could only be bought in lengths equivalent to Hitler's foot and had probably been spat upon by a dirty immigrant who has taken your job while sitting on benefits doing nothing and making bombs.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by monkey » Thu Feb 24, 2022 5:39 pm

Little waster wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:55 pm
monkey wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:10 pm
Little waster wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 3:26 pm
So who is it to convince?
Everyone sees weights and measures. Many people will see them and think "We Brexited, Boris did that, I like Boris". These people are likely people who already think Brexit was a good idea, but they might start noticing that their lives aren't changing for the better, as promised. A veneer like this suggests to them that things have changed for them. Same as with the blue passports.
But that doesn't speak to the supposed economic benefits covered in Greased-Frog's report.

You don't need to go through the rigmarole of publishing a lengthy report on economics to convince the man on the Clapham Omnibus that Boris has bravely freed us to now proudly buy pints of bread from Woolworths whereas previously under the dastardly EU the only bread available was French Sticks, could only be bought in lengths equivalent to Hitler's foot and had probably been spat upon by a dirty immigrant who has taken your job while sitting on benefits doing nothing and making bombs.
Half the UK is still going to go "What is this pointlessness? It's just going to cost us, and make importing/exporting harder, and confuse the kids, and...". The government needs at least one argument against this. This doesn't need to be convincing, they just need to be able to say "There's economic benefits, there's a report" so they can just dismiss any one calling them stupid. And while everyone is arguing about how bad the report is, they just go ahead and do it.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Bird on a Fire » Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:33 pm

Who even cares about government reports? They're always partisan and usually sh.t.

Seeing as everyone in government knows that, it's not for them.

Nobody without expertise will read it. Everyone with expertise will see through the charade.

Isn't the point just to give millions to a mate with a consultancy/think tank/etc?
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by tom p » Fri Feb 25, 2022 1:02 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:33 pm
Who even cares about government reports? They're always partisan and usually sh.t.

Seeing as everyone in government knows that, it's not for them.

Nobody without expertise will read it. Everyone with expertise will see through the charade.

Isn't the point just to give millions to a mate with a consultancy/think tank/etc?
A government report is produced by the government, specifically the civil service.
The purpose of this one is to provide gloss for a f.cking stupid idea that will cause nothing but harm to the UK while pleasing a few pathetic morons who think that everything was better in the old days, just because it was the old days.
It's described as as report into the economic benefits of returning to imperial measures because it can't have an honest title because civil service rules prevent the use of "fuckwits" in document titles

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Little waster » Fri Feb 25, 2022 2:47 pm

tom p wrote:
Fri Feb 25, 2022 1:02 pm
The purpose of this one is to provide gloss for a f.cking stupid idea that will cause nothing but harm to the UK while pleasing a few pathetic morons who think that everything was better in the old days, just because it was the old days.
TBF its been introduced by an individual who made the conscious decision to adopt an affectation of the general appearance, mannerisms and morality of a Dickensian workhouse owner while they were still in primary school*.

Would we have expected anything less?


*at school even his fellow Etonians thought he was a bit odd and pretentious and they were dressed like this at the time**:-

Spoiler:



**well near enough, I was surprised to find he's only about 9 years older than me. Then I remembered I'm actually very old now. :cry:
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Rich Scopie » Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:16 am

Little waster wrote:
Fri Feb 25, 2022 2:47 pm



**well near enough, I was surprised to find he's only about 9 years older than me. Then I remembered I'm actually very old now. :cry:
He's bl..dy younger than I am.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Bird on a Fire » Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:10 pm

Seems like an EU army could be a go-er, which will benefit Britain's foreign policy concerns without their needing to have a competent government or spend any money!

The EU has been uncharacteristically quick to respond, and I bet it couldn't have with the UK holding things up.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Brightonian » Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:20 pm


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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Martin Y » Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:13 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:10 pm
Seems like an EU army could be a go-er, which will benefit Britain's foreign policy concerns without their needing to have a competent government or spend any money!

The EU has been uncharacteristically quick to respond, and I bet it couldn't have with the UK holding things up.
To be fair, the Leaver propaganda that came through our door in 2016 told us our children would be conscripted into the EU army by 2017 if we remained. Completely vindicated, I should say.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by plodder » Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:36 pm

Martin Y wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:13 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:10 pm
Seems like an EU army could be a go-er, which will benefit Britain's foreign policy concerns without their needing to have a competent government or spend any money!

The EU has been uncharacteristically quick to respond, and I bet it couldn't have with the UK holding things up.
To be fair, the Leaver propaganda that came through our door in 2016 told us our children would be conscripted into the EU army by 2017 if we remained. Completely vindicated, I should say.
To be even fairer, there is a movement in the EU towards an increasingly centrally controlled federal organisation including a shared foreign policy, so the leavers were not being entirely paranoid.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by tom p » Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:39 pm

plodder wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:36 pm
Martin Y wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:13 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:10 pm
Seems like an EU army could be a go-er, which will benefit Britain's foreign policy concerns without their needing to have a competent government or spend any money!

The EU has been uncharacteristically quick to respond, and I bet it couldn't have with the UK holding things up.
To be fair, the Leaver propaganda that came through our door in 2016 told us our children would be conscripted into the EU army by 2017 if we remained. Completely vindicated, I should say.
To be even fairer, there is a movement in the EU towards an increasingly centrally controlled federal organisation including a shared foreign policy, so the leavers were not being entirely paranoid.
There's a massive difference between 'plodder has a beard' and 'plodder wants to snatch all your scissors and razors and force you to look like ra-ra-rasputin'. The latter is still paranoid, even if it's based on a tiny kernel of truth

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:03 pm

No no Tom, surely you can see that "centrally controlled federal organisation including a shared foreign policy" and "imminent conscription of children" are very similar positions?

Round here in Portugal I've already seen Ursula von der Leyen doing the rounds in her child-snatching van, ready to ship the kids off to fight in Ukraine.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by plodder » Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:27 pm

Did leavers mention conscription of children into an EU army by 2017? I don't remember that bit.

I do remember the internal tensions (and the main fuel for leavers for decades) was from increased integration though, including the risk of a roadmap ending in a place not a million miles away from the current USA federal vs state model.

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:33 pm

plodder wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:27 pm
Did leavers mention conscription of children into an EU army by 2017? I don't remember that bit.
That's what Martin Y said. I was living in Brazil at the time, so nothing came through my door about it at all (except my postal vote).
plodder wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:27 pm
I do remember the internal tensions (and the main fuel for leavers for decades) was from increased integration though, including the risk of a roadmap ending in a place not a million miles away from the current USA federal vs state model.
It's been interesting to see that in recent days there's been an obvious shared foreign policy objective for EU countries, and internal tensions seem to have evaporated. I suspect that whatever happens in Ukraine one outcome will be increased integration of foreign policy and defence, quite probably including some kind of "EU army" or "peacekeeping force". Macron will be delighted, at least until he finds out nobody wants the troops' working language to be French.
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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by plodder » Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:21 pm

yeah but that's because Russia is f.cking terrifying

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Re: Benefits of Brexit for Britain

Post by WFJ » Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:39 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:33 pm
Macron will be delighted, at least until he finds out nobody wants the troops' working language to be French.
and that the Security Council seat is being transferred to the EU.

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