[Disclaimer -- I hold an EU passport. It's not British.]
Every time I go to England, a country I love, I have to ask myself why on Earth the UK is in the European Union. Britons often decline to say that the British Isles are even part of the European continent. They want nothing to do with the Euro, they actively resist EU directives on everything from food standards to consumer safety, they drive on the other side of the road, they refuse to fully adopt SI (miles, anyone?), their plugs don't fit on the continent (even if their mains system is brilliant and far safer than anyone else's), they claim it's impossible to join Schengen, they maintain and justify a double standard for professional workers and unskilled workers from EU countries, and there's constant bickering between the political parties about how much they want to have to do with "Europe". I'm sorry, is there another continent option?
As near as I can figure it, Britain is in the EU for a few simple reasons, none of which really justify it staying in. They shouldn't leave; they should be sent packing. Hey, it'll save them a boatload of crowns, shillings and pence.
1) It would kill the British to see Europe sit around a table without them at it. Come to think of it, the Brits felt the same way about India, Hong Kong, Iraq, the Sinai, Palestine, South Africa (esp once gold and diamonds were discovered in the Boer lands), and a few dozen other places.
2) For competitive reasons, the Brits are desperate for Euro talent to work in The City and certain other professions and, conversely, want to keep it effortless for their citizens to retire to Provence, Tuscany or Marbella.
3) For the first time, there is more than boiled meat, 3 veggies, and Indian food to eat.
My dad marveled till the day he died about a headline he saw while studying in England in the 1950's: Cable Under the Channel Accidentally Cut; Europe Loses Communication. Well, that just about sums it up, doesn't it?
PS - I love the Scots, too, and realize that they're often at Whitehall's mercy on stuff like this.
Every time I go to England, a country I love, I have to ask myself why on Earth the UK is in the European Union. Britons often decline to say that the British Isles are even part of the European continent. They want nothing to do with the Euro, they actively resist EU directives on everything from food standards to consumer safety, they drive on the other side of the road, they refuse to fully adopt SI (miles, anyone?), their plugs don't fit on the continent (even if their mains system is brilliant and far safer than anyone else's), they claim it's impossible to join Schengen, they maintain and justify a double standard for professional workers and unskilled workers from EU countries, and there's constant bickering between the political parties about how much they want to have to do with "Europe". I'm sorry, is there another continent option?
As near as I can figure it, Britain is in the EU for a few simple reasons, none of which really justify it staying in. They shouldn't leave; they should be sent packing. Hey, it'll save them a boatload of crowns, shillings and pence.
1) It would kill the British to see Europe sit around a table without them at it. Come to think of it, the Brits felt the same way about India, Hong Kong, Iraq, the Sinai, Palestine, South Africa (esp once gold and diamonds were discovered in the Boer lands), and a few dozen other places.
2) For competitive reasons, the Brits are desperate for Euro talent to work in The City and certain other professions and, conversely, want to keep it effortless for their citizens to retire to Provence, Tuscany or Marbella.
3) For the first time, there is more than boiled meat, 3 veggies, and Indian food to eat.
My dad marveled till the day he died about a headline he saw while studying in England in the 1950's: Cable Under the Channel Accidentally Cut; Europe Loses Communication. Well, that just about sums it up, doesn't it?
PS - I love the Scots, too, and realize that they're often at Whitehall's mercy on stuff like this.
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